A Time So Simple
by Hot Donna
Summary: PJ Joey meets Pacey by doing a favor for a friend...and they don't get along. But what she doesn't know is that he has a problem and she may be the only thing that can help him...and he just might be the only one that can help her...
1. Chapter 1: Like That

**This is an old fic of mine. My first DC fic but I'm reposting it because it got all deleted in the ezboard crash. I'm working on the sequel right now.**

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**A Time So Simple**

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"Drue, stop it."

"Jo, I'm not doing anything."

"You're looking at me."

"So now I can't look at you?" His voice was incredulous.

"You can look at me, just not like that."

"Not like what?"

"Like that."

"I just won't look at you."

She nodded, and looked back down at her book. "Good."

"Or maybe I will." He said teasingly.

"Drue, leave her alone." Jen piped in.

"Jen, I'm not doing anything to her."

"You're looking at her like that." Jen told him, looking down at her book.

"Like what?" Drue asked confused.

"Like that." Jack told Drue, looking up from the binder he was scribbling in, growing annoyed with his friends.

Drue chuckled and shook his head, looking over at the quiet blonde beside him. "What's wrong?" He asked knowingly.

"We are here to study, you know?" Joey told him, a crooked smile on her lips.

"I hate studying." He told her. "So I'm bugging the hell out of all of you."

"Well, bug the hell out of us, leave Audrey alone." Joey said pointedly.

"I just wanted to know what was wrong." He shrugged his shoulders and glanced over at Audrey with concern.

"She just doesn't feel good." Joey defended, looking towards Audrey who wasn't studying but who was fiddling with her fingers.

"She has a mouth." Charlie told Joey, his eyes now focused on the quiet blonde. "Audrey, what's up."

"Nothing's up." Jen told them tiredly. "She just doesn't want to talk."

"I take it she told you what was wrong." Jack cocked his head to the side as he stared at Jen.

"She told Joey too." Charlie noticed. "They always tell each other everything before they tell us."

"You're lucky we tell you anything." Joey told Charlie, her eyes narrowed.

"Well then," Drue started, "tell us. What's up with Audrey?"

Joey looked at Audrey and waited until she got a nod of approval before turning to look at Jack, Charlie, and then Drue. "CJ wants to move to the next level." She knew the reaction she was about to get out of the three guys, that was the other reason she didn't want to tell them.

"What?" Jack's brows furrowed, proving he was angry.

"Doesn't he know we'll kill him?" Charlie asked honestly.

Drue closed his book and calmly cracked his knuckles. "I can fix that."

"No fighting." Joey put her hand on his big fist. "Listen, Drue. There's more to the story. Audrey think she's ready to move to the next level."

"But she's not." Charlie raised up from laying beside Joey on the bed.

"She's only been dating that creep for two months. And she's only sixteen, she has all the time in the world."

"And, he used to date you." Jack told Joey with his eyes narrowed. "I mean, how could he date two best friends?"

"Audrey knows that I don't mind." Joey told Jack, who was sitting next to Drue. "And CJ sure as hell doesn't mind."

"And anyway," Jen added, "she's sure she loves him."

"Loves him? He's a walking dick." Drue said, glancing at Jen and then Joey. "She can't love him."

"I dated the guy for three months, he can be the opposite of a walking dick sometimes." She tried to defend, looking at Drue who was directly across from her.

"A sitting dick?" Jack said with a small smile.

"A laying dick." Charlie added, looking at Jack who sat across from him and laughing.

"The opposite of walk is run, isn't it?" Jen asked curiously.

"I think it's stand." Drue told her with a thoughtful look.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that she's ready." Joey told her best friends.

"If she's ready, then why the long face?" Jack asked.

"Because she's scared." Jen reached across from her and rubbed Audrey's knee. "She's scared but she's sure. She wants to do this."

"You do?" Charlie asked Audrey.

"She does." Joey answered.

"Let her answer." Drue told Joey softly, letting her know that their was no hostility or rudeness in the way he said it.

Everyone turned to look at Audrey, who just pushed her hair behind her ear and looked up at her best friends. "I'm going home." She got up from her seat on the opposite side of Drue from Jack.

Jen looked over at Joey, who sat in the middle of her and Charlie, and gave her a sympathetic look for some reason. "We're going to go, too."

"You guys want us to walk you?" Jack asked, standing up and stretching out his stiff limbs.

"No, we're okay." Joey told him. She stuffed her books in her bag and looked back at the three growing boys. "We'll talk to you guys later."

"Alright, bye." Charlie said to the three of them.

"See ya." Jack waved.

"Bye." Drue called. "And Joey, sorry for…looking at you like that."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Whatever."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" He asked playfully.

"No." She chuckled and walked out the door behind Audrey and Jen.

**xxxxx**

Joey walked through her door, the sound of the baby crying made her roll her eyes. "Bess, I'm home." She announced.

"Hey, Jo, come here."

Still holding her backpack on her shoulder, she marched down the hall to the babies room until she found Bessie changing Alex's diaper. "Yeah. What's up?"

"I need you to go to the store for me. I forgot a whole lot of stuff and Dad is coming home for his birthday and I wanted to make a whole big dinner for him."

"Don't expect me to jump for glee at the exciting news." Her voice was bitter as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room containing the wailing baby to her own.

After the baby simmered down, she heard Bessie's footsteps coming to her room and then her door burst open. "You act like he did something so terrible to you." Bessie immediately yelled at her sister.

Joey looked up with a look of confusion. "Bessie, he cheated on our mother while she was on her deathbed, sold drugs from our home, and got hauled off to prison, leaving us on our own. That seems pretty damn terrible if you ask me." Joey could tell she hit a nerve when she brought up her mother.

They never did that.

"Jo, he didn't mean anything by that." Bessie said lowly, her voice way quieter than it was before.

"He didn't mean anything?" She asked incredulously. "That's nice that you believe in him, Bessie. It's really nice that you love him that way. Because me, I hate him."

"You shut up, Joey. Don't speak of your father that way." Bessie said sternly, pointing her finger at her little sister.

"He's not my father." She almost yelled. "Bodie has been more of a father to me than he has."

The shrill ringing of the phone broke the heated gaze that they held. Joey rolled her eyes before reaching on the nightstand next to her bed and grabbing the cordless. She pressed the button and put it to her ear.

"H'lo?"

"Joey, guess what?"

Inwardly smiling at the voice of her best friend, she sighed on the outside.

"Drue, not right now okay?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Joey, am I going to have to come over and beat it out of you?"

"You can come over and beat it out of Bessie." She said hopefully, her smile stubbornly creeping to her lips.

Mumbling something about finishing it later, Bessie left the room, slamming the door behind her.

"You and Bessie have a fight?" He asked concernedly after hearing the door slam.

She heard dishes clinking and guessed he was doing the dishes. His mother had probably bitched at him because he never did dishes. "Yeah. Dad's coming over for his birthday and she wants me to help out."

"Whoa." He cut off the water. "Why's he coming there for his birthday? His flavor of the week decided he wasn't worth the dollar she spent on his gift?"

She chuckled. "I guess so." Knowing that if they didn't get off the subject melancholy would soon join their conversation, she sighed. "Anyway, you said 'guess what'? What were you talking about?"

"Well," he smiled, "I want you to double date with me and this girl and her brother."

"This girl?" Joey grinned. "What's her name, how old is she, and what drugs is she on?"

"Ha ha." He rolled his eyes. "I met her at the store a couple of hours ago.

Her brother is a jerk, but she's cool, so I wanted you to go with me because you seem to know how to handle jerks."

"Look at who my best friends are. How could I not know how to handle them?" She laid back on her bed.

"Did you just call Audrey and Jen jerks? I'm telling." He laughed.

She chuckled. "You know very well that I was speaking of the three buffoons that are lucky enough to have Audrey, Jen and I as best friends."

"Enough with the bashing." He told her with feigned seriousness.

"So, what's her name, how old is she?"

"Her name is Gretchen. She's uh, a couple of years older than us." He mumbled the last part.

"How older? Drue, I hope she isn't _old_, old." Joey grimaced at the thought. Drue had dated some old women in his time.

"She's just twenty-one."

Joey sighed. That wasn't really old compared to what he used to date, but still. "Drue, what happened to dating high school girls?"

"Well, she used to be in high school, that has to count for something." He joked.

"Drue, she's old enough to buy liquor." It wasn't a good excuse, but she needed to say something.

"I am too. Just not legally." He chuckled when he heard her frustrated grunt. "Jo look, it's not like I'm planning on dating her forever. She was hot, and you know how I am about hot girls."

"She can go to jail for this." Joey told him.

"Are you coming? Yes or no." He ignored her.

"She can get into a club. Legally."

"Friday night, I'll pick you up around eight." He told her, a growing smile on his face.

"Morgan Kennedy has a crush on you. She's a nice young woman. You should give her a try." She revealed the secret of the redhead that sat next to her in fifth period. She'd told Morgan she wouldn't tell, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Thanks Jo, I love you."

She sighed in defeat. "Love you too."

And they hung up.


	2. Chapter 2: Foul Favors

Enjoy!

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**A Time So Simple**

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"Hey Joey." Drue walked into the house without knocking. "You look beautiful. You weren't supposed to look beautiful."

She chuckled and looked down at her blue jean, mid-thigh skirt and her white halter top. "Regular spring clothes, Drue."

"Regular?" He grabbed her shoulder with one hand and tugged at the hem of the skirt with the other.

"What are you doing?" She laughed almost incredulously.

"It's too short." He said simply.

"It is not."

"It is too, Jo." After it was to his liking, he folded his arms over his chest and nodded approvingly. "I guess that's better."

"Thanks Pop." She said sarcastically, grabbing her coat from off the back of a chair.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you," Drue started, "there's been a change in the plans."

"What kind of change?" She walked out in front of him.

"Well, remember how I said double date?" When she nodded, "Well, this is going to be the most awkward double date ever because as Gretchen and I are in one place, you and her brother will be in an entirely different one."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you saying, Valentine?"

"I'm saying that," he paused to open the door to his truck, "you're really dense if you don't see where this is going."

"Drue…" She warned as she got in.

"Fine." He sighed and closed his door, then stuck his key in the ignition, but didn't start it. "I'm saying that, this isn't going to be a double date. More like two dates…on the same night…in different places."

She grabbed the handle to the door. "Bye."

"Jo, wait. Don't leave." He grabbed her shoulder. "You can't honestly say that you don't want to go out tonight."

"And you can't honestly tell me that you expect me to spend my night with a complete stranger. One whom you refer to as a jerk." She countered.

"He's a harmless jerk. Not a jerk that makes you so mad you want to push him in front of an oncoming automobile." He explained.

"Well you know I have a short fuse." She tightened her gaze on him. "Because right now, pushing you in front of a Mack truck isn't at the bottom of the list."

He chuckled. "Well let me put it like this. He's no worse than me right now." When he smiled and saw that she didn't smile, he sighed. "His sister just wants him to see the town. They're new around here."

"No wonder she agreed to go out with you." She smiled dryly.

"Joey…" He mocked her warning tone from earlier.

Staring blankly at him, she finally sighed. "Okay, you know what. Fine. But if at anytime I feel threatened by this buffoon, I'm ditching him high and dry."

He smiled as he started up the vehicle. "Now that's what I like to hear."

**xxxxx**

Drue pulled up to the curb next to the Food Shack, a trendy restaurant where all the kids came, usually after school let out. "We're meeting them here."

"Let me guess, you chose the place?" Joey said flatly, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Uh huh."

"I should've known." She shook her head slightly.

"Why, because it's such a classy place?" He grinned at her.

"Exactly." She deadpanned.

He chuckled as they got out. "You've been insulting me all night, Jo."

"And one would think you were used to it." She smoothed her skirt with her palms.

"Just don't insult this guy on sight, Joey." He ran his hand through his hair. "You tend to do that to the male species."

She shrugged as they walked into the familiar eatery. "I can't help it. Guys suck."

"Only when we're asked nicely." He countered, his eyes meeting Gretchen's gaze from afar.

She smiled wryly at him from his last comment and then followed his line of sight. Noticing the brown haired boy that got up with the woman who didn't look a day older than eighteen years old. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all, the boy was cute.

When they made their way over, Drue put his hand on the small of Joey's back. "Hi Gretchen, this is Joey. She's my best friend."

"Hi." Gretchen said sweetly.

"Hey." Joey crookedly smiled.

"And this is her brother…" He looked to her brother, waiting for him to fill in his name.

"Pacey." He looked from Drue and then looked down to Joey with a scrutinizing gaze. She wasn't his type. "I usually prefer blondes."

It was an innocent comment. She could tell he didn't mean any offense by it, but so what? That didn't stop her angry gaze from narrowing at his face. "I'm sorry. I left my convenient bottle of Sheer Blonde in the car."

Her sarcastic tone appealed to him. "Well that's okay. I'm sure we have time to go get it." He looked at his watch, checking if they had time.

Joey glanced at Drue evilly before looking back to Pacey. "Whatever, let's go."

"Yes ma'am." Pacey saluted, following the lithe brunette.

She turned around and glanced at Drue before mumbling, "You're going to pay."

"I always do." He smiled at her sweetly. "Meet me back here at eleven-thirty." He called after them.

**xxxxx**

"You're awfully quiet." Pacey ran his hand through his hair.

"There's nothing to say." She said with a dead voice.

"Aren't you supposed to be showing me around?" He sounded slightly irritated.

"I am showing you around. I'm sorry if there isn't much to show in Capeside." Her apology was clearly sarcastic.

Pacey sighed. "What's bothering you?"

"Take a look in the mirror. The hideous answer should stare you in the face." She rolled her eyes at him and folded her arms across her chest.

Pacey grinned. "Are you always this nice?"

"No, but you're special. Thought I'd show you at least a little bit of my nice side."

He laughed. "You're a sarcastic little thing, aren't you?" When she didn't answer, "How old are you?"

"Why?" She asked uninterested, eyeing a mannequin in the window with a beautiful outfit on.

"Just wanted to know." He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You're a sophomore?"

"Junior." She glanced up at him, noticing the smile on his face. "What are you grinning about?"

"I'm a junior too. What school are you going to?"

"Why would I tell you? So you could track me down and go there?" She pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Don't flatter yourself. What makes you think I would want to go to the same school as you?" He raised his brows. "Maybe I want to know so I'll be sure not to go there."

She rolled her eyes, not being able to come up with a retort. "Capeside High is like, the only high school in Capeside."

"Damn," he muttered with fake disappointment, snapping his fingers in the process, "just so happens I'm starting there on Monday." His smile showed he wasn't disappointed, but amused.

"Whoopee." She deadpanned.

After more long, drawn out silence, Pacey sighed. "I'm bored. Can we do something fun?"

"I have an idea. We could end this boring night and go home. I could forget I ever met you, and you could do likewise." Her voice actually sounded interested in the idea.

He shook his head. "Uh uh." He looked around the darkening sky for a moment before looking back at her. "There's a beach somewhere around here, isn't there? We could go skinny dipping." He waggled his brows at her.

"In your miserable, deluded dreams." She frowned at him.

"Well we have to do something other than walk around, because if I do say so, this is boring." He sighed.

"Truth be told, Casey--"

"Pacey." He interrupted.

"Pacey." She repeated. "What kind of name is that anyway?"

He shrugged and then looked away from her face before muttering, "It's French."

And for the first time that night, she wholeheartedly smiled. "French? Pacey?" When he nodded, she lightly chuckled, "And what does it mean?"

"It means something like, the God of Handsome Features, or something close to that." He grinned from seeing her grinning.

"You really are delusional." She shook her head and looked down at her imaginary watch. "Well, look at that, it's been thirty minutes since I've met you. I'd say you've done enough sight-seeing for one night."

"Don't tell me you're leaving me in this mind-numbing town all alone." He whined.

"I have homework to do and books to study." She complained.

"On a Friday night?" He asked incredulously. "Maybe it's not so much this town that's mind-numbing, but you."

She propped a hand on her hip. "Excuse me?" She asked, offended. "Just because I want to study on a weekend makes me boring?"

Pacey looked around before focusing his attention back to her brown eyes. "Uh, yeah." He nodded. "Don't you have any friends?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"And are they all studying this fine Friday night?"

Reluctantly, she shook her head. "No."

"So you see, that makes you the boring one. Studying on a Friday, I mean really, who does that?" He knitted his brows and shrugged his shoulders with a soft snort.

Her jaw clenched. "And walking around in circles isn't boring to you?"

"Actually it is, but you see, I know nothing about this tedious town, so the circles we've been walking in are your entire fault." He waved a finger at her.

Her mouth gaped open. "My fault?" A dry smile spread across her lips. "Fine, _Pacey_," she drew out his name, "what is it that you want to do? And if you say skinny dipping, I'm shoving my fist down your throat." She warned with narrowed eyes.

He smiled a petite smile. "Come on."

**xxxxx**

With her arms folded over her chest and her back leaned against a vacant wall, she shook her head as the older, forty-five year old man came out of the small store and handed Pacey the two bottles, one of Jack Daniel's and the other one was Vat 69, and then he handed him the change that Pacey had left over from the illegal purchases.

"And you're a teenage alcoholic?" She pushed from against the wall. "Can you get any worse?"

Pacey eyed the two treasures in his hands. "Josie, don't worry. I'll share with you." He flashed her a charming grin.

"My name is Joey." She reminded. "And if you expect me to drink that with you, you're sadly mistaken."

"Do you see why I prefer blondes?" He asked, handing her the bottle of Vat 69. "They're easy and stupid. Where as anything other than blondes, like to talk a lot." He opened the bottle of Jack Daniel's.

Joey frowned. "For your information, I have two friends that are blonde and they are certainly not stupid. Or easy, for that matter. You've just been around some stupid girls which is obvious, because they had to be stupid to sleep with you." She looked down at the bottle she was holding, forgetting that she had numbly taken it from him. She handed it back. "Take this."

He grabbed the bottle and shook his head. "Can we meet these blonde friends of yours? I'm sure I could loosen them up." His grin was playful.

She grunted and sighed at the same time, he was frustrating her. "I already hate you."

"That's good to know." He mumbled with the neck of the bottle already pressed to his lips.

She looked on as he effortlessly gulped the golden looking liquid. "You're going to die before you reach twenty-one."

"You'd love that wouldn't you?" The liquor was already seeming to take over his system.

"More than you know." She pushed her hands in her jacket pockets and sighed. "So this is what you call fun? Walking down the street drinking liquor?"

"Better than walking down the street and not drinking liquor." He spoke, pushing the bottle back up against his lips.

"You're pathetic." She shook her head and looked into the windows of passing stores as they walked in silence.

**xxxxx**

Gretchen sat at the table in the Food Shack, tapping her fingers against the wood of the table. They were two of the few customers in the restaurant now. The place was pretty full for the time of night it was, but it was nothing compared to how packed it was when they'd first met up.

"I wonder where Joey is." Drue said for the fifth time, glancing down at his watch. It was eleven-fifty five, and he was anxious to get out. Gretchen was hot, but she wasn't a vibrant person.

The bell over the door chimed, barely being heard before Joey walked in with Pacey stumbling drunkenly in after her.

"Oh my god." Gretchen muttered disappointedly, getting up and going to her brother.

Joey looked obviously annoyed as her eyes fell on Drue. "I hate you as of right now." She told the tall blue-eyed best friend of hers.

"You let him drink?" Gretchen snapped at Joey rudely.

Joey jumped at the tone in her voice. "What'd you expect me to do, stop him? He's his own person." She defended.

"Yeah," Gretchen nodded, taking the almost empty bottle of Golden Vat 69 from him, "and he's an alcoholic."

Joey's face fell shocked at the news. "An alcoholic?"

"Yes." She hissed. Gretchen wrapped her brothers arm around her neck and walked off, not saying another thing.

"See ya, Josie." Pacey waved, and then waved at Drue. "I don't know your name, but see you later too man." He stumbled, and he and Gretchen almost fell. His chuckle was hardy as they left the eating place.

Joey looked up at Drue, her face still registering shock, but she was speechless.


	3. Chapter 3: Apology Heeded

Thanks for all the replies!

**xxxxx**

**A Time So Simple**

**xxxxx**

Joey walked into Capeside High, her body slightly slumped. She was strolling next to Charlie, his arm draped around her shoulders. "Jo, stop sulking. You didn't know."

She nodded, slowly agreeing. "I know."

"So you can't feel bad." He pulled her closer to him.

"Yes I can." She didn't sound a tad upbeat.

"Joey, don't beat yourself up about this." He told her with a more solemn voice. "It's not your fault."

"I know it's not. But I even cracked one of my sarcastic jokes about teenage alcoholics." She shook her head as they made it to her locker. "When will I ever realize that my cynical quips are always bordering the dire truth in one way or another?"

He chuckled and leaned against the locker next to hers. "Joey, will you stop beating yourself up over it? You had no idea that he was an alcoholic. He's our age. Who would've guessed that he was an alcoholic anyway?"

She looked up at him with a soft smile. "I guess you're right, Charlie." She sighed. "I mean, I honestly didn't know."

Charlie nodded with a playful smirk. "And if anybody should feel bad, it should be Drue. He's the one that forced you to go out with the guy."

She grabbed the last required item from her locker and shut it. "You're right. It is his fault." She smiled jokingly. "But I could never blame Drue for anything."

He rolled his eyes sarcastically as they continued their trek to his locker. "Oh, I forgot. You favor Drue so therefore he is banned from doing anything wrong in the eyes of Joey Potter."

"I do not favor him, Charlie." She laughed softly. "I don't favor any of you."

"Yeah right. That's why Drue can ask you to jump off of a cliff and you'd do it. But if Jack or myself asked you to do something as simple as…" he paused to think, "baby sit our annoying little sister, you'd say no in a heartbeat."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "This is one of those trick question things where I

babble on about how that's not true and then you ask me to prove it by saying yes to

what you said I'd say no to in a heartbeat, isn't it?"

He pinched her cheeks with a sweet smile. "Josephine, you think you know me, don'tyou?"

"When do you need me to baby sit?" She asked flatly.

"Tonight at nine. I would do it myself, but I asked Mandy out and she said yeah and-"

"Mandy Jameson agreed to go out with you?" She asked incredulously as he opened his locker. "What's the catch?"

He laughed. "The catch? You must've forgotten that Charlie Todd needs no catch to date head cheerleaders like Mandy Jameson."

She stared at him knowingly. "You told her your dad's classic Harley Davidson was yours, didn't you?"

He bit his bottom lip to keep from chuckling. "Uh…yeah."

She laughed and shook her head. "Pitiful. Just as I suspected."

He closed his locker and leaned in to peck her cheek. "Thanks for doing this for me, Jo. Just look at the bright side, you get to watch Sue and I get a nice screw." He grinned at his self made joke.

"Bad joke, Charlie." She patted his back in mock sympathy. "Bad joke."

He shrugged as she walked ahead of him. "I thought it was pretty funny." He called after her.

**xxxxx**

The number two pencil tapped against the wood of the desk, her eyes briefly lifted every three seconds to look at the clock. What was it with History classes? Were they boring on purpose? Egypt. Pyramids. And more pyramids. Who gave a damn about pyramids?

A hand reached over and tossed a folded piece of college ruled paper on her desk. She looked in the direction the hand came from and saw Morgan. Joey put on a fake smile and looked down at the letter.

_Drue asked me out_

Joey bit her lip nervously and looked up at the redhead. "Sorry." She mouthed, apologizing for spilling the secret.

That annoying creek in the door ripped through the classroom air, pulling everyone's attention towards the entrance of the small boring world. Two eyes widened with surprise as he waltzed in.

"Hmmm, can I help you, sir?" Misses "Hmmm" Mathews' voice politely cut through her shock.

He looked down at the paper in his hand and chuckled nervously. "Yes you can, uh, I'm Pacey Witter." He stuck his hand out to the teacher for a handshake, receiving a low wave of chuckles from the students when she gave his hand a disapproving 'hmmm' and didn't shake it. "I do believe this is my third period." He stuck out the paper to her.

She grabbed it, pulling her glasses further up her nose to see it's fine print. "Hmmm." She glanced at him skeptically as she handed it back to him. "I suppose you are a new student in this class." Her eyes scanned the classroom for an empty seat, her 'hmmm' was barely heard as she did so. "Sit next to Mister White, he's over there." She pointed to CJ.

Moving to sit where he was assigned, his eyes briefly caught hold of Joey and he laughed sarcastically with a shake of his head.

He already hated this stupid town.

**xxxxx**

He walked out of his third period, not the least bit surprised when he saw her leaned up against the wall next to the door. "You." He said simply.

"Yeah. Me." She sighed, following him as he continued walking. "I just wanted to apologize for Friday night. I shouldn't have let you drink."

"You had no idea who the real me was anyway, Josie." He was nonchalant, looking down at his schedule.

"I know. And I don't know what I'm really apologizing for, I'm just sorry." She frowned lightly. "And my name is Joey."

"Yeah, uh huh, Joey. That's great." He finally stopped and turned to her. "You know what, I don't really care too much for the apologies, I just want to make sure that this doesn't get around the old Capeside rumor mill. That could potentially ruin my impending reputation."

She looked slightly confused. "Okay."

"And don't throw me a pity party or anything, because even though I may be an alcoholic," he kept his voice light, "I'm a happy one. Not one of the sappy, depressed ones you see on Montel Williams." He patted her shoulder. "And with that said, thanks." He flashed a smile at her.

"Yeah. Sure." She muttered as he walked past her.

**xxxxx**

"Hey, Jo." Drue came up behind her, swinging his arm around her shoulders.

"Hey." Her voice was low.

"Don't tell me you're still brooding over that whole drunken teenage thing." He ducked down to look in her face. "Jo, it was an honest mistake."

"I know." She stopped walking to turn and look at him. "I just, I guess I'm pissed at him." She admitted.

Drue looked utterly confused. "Why?"

"Because. He's like seventeen years old and he doesn't care that he's an alcoholic." She looked up at his eyes. "He just accepts it like it's a small flaw that won't do any harm to his future." She let out a sigh.

"It's his life." Drue said carefully.

"I know that." She retorted. "But that doesn't give him the right to ruin it."

He raised his brows. "Okay Jo, I don't think this whole," he flailed his arms, motioning to her, "good Samaritan thing is working for you. It does give him a right to ruin it." He shrugged. "I'm not saying that the guy should ruin it, but if he does, it'll be his own fault."

"And the thought of him ruining his life doesn't make you feel any kind of pity or sympathy for him?" She asked, her eyes squinted in incredulous suspicion.

He shrugged slowly, not sure if that was the right answer. "Uh, no?" When she rolled her eyes and kept walking he grabbed her shoulder, "But Jo, I don't know the guy at all. I've never spent a minute alone with him in my entire life."

Her eyes lit up with an idea. "I got it." She nodded. "You, Jack and Charlie can befriend him. He goes here now so you guys could hang out with him and maybe keep his mind off of drinking."

Drue shook his head. "No Joey. He can't be one of us. There's rules to the friendship between us. I'm yours, Jack is Jen's, and Charlie's Audrey's. It's that simple. If we add him, that means one of us are going to have to share. And I can tell that the one to share will be me, and I refuse to share you."

"_Share_?" She asked, her eyes widening. "And that's barely one of the countless things faulty in that lengthy sentence." She propped her hands on her hip. "I am not yours. You guys see us as _property_?" She shook her head and bit the inside of her lip. "Wait until I tell Jen and Audrey. I'm sure they'd love to hear that you guys claim us as some kind of material goods."

He sighed. "Jo, that's not what I meant." Watching as she left, he knew there was only one thing he could do to get back on her good side.

**xxxxx**

"I'm Drue." He stuck his hand out to Pacey who stood leaned up against a tree, watching the cheerleaders practice. "This is my friend Jack, and this is Charlie."

Charlie and Jack nodded and mumbled their hello's.

Pacey looked slightly confused as he shook Drue's hand. "That's nice." He squinted his eyes at Drue. "Aren't you Jody's friend?"

"Joey." Drue corrected tightly.

"I can never remember that name." His attention was drawn back to the field where the cheerleaders were when he watched them bend over for an exercise. "This is the best part of school."

Drue, Jack, and Charlie all followed his eye line of vision. "Cheerleaders?" Drue asked uninterestedly.

"Not just any cheerleader." He pointed to Mandy Jameson. "But that cheerleader."

Charlie frowned at him. "I'm dating her."

Pacey turned to look at Charlie, examining him. Then he snorted. "Yeah right."

Jack gripped Charlie's shoulder when he saw his jaw clench. "You got plans tomorrow night?"

Pacey turned his attention to Jack. "No."

"You wanna do something with us?" Jack asked coolly.

"No." Pacey answered simply, turning his gaze back to Mandy. "I know Jordy probably talked you guys into befriending me because she told you what my little problem was. And I specifically recall telling that meddler that I didn't want a pity party."

"She's just trying to help." Jack cut in, angry at this new guy's attitude. "She may act like she's careless, but she has a really big heart. She just wants to help you."

"I don't need help." He said clearly and solemnly.

"You're an alcoholic that doesn't need help?" Jack snorted. "Yeah right. You need help, you just don't want to admit it." Giving Pacey a disapproving once over, he shook his head. "And by the way, it's Joey, _Stacey_."

Pacey watched them walk away and shook his head with a bitter laugh before turning back to look at the cheerleaders.

**xxxxx**

"I don't know." Joey bit on the tip of her pen as she looked over at Jen's paper. "I mean, I thought that Jack London wrote To Build a Fire." She squinted her eyes and read over her notes again. "Oh yeah, he did."

Jen nodded and began scribbling things down. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"How did I know I'd find you in the library?" He chuckled to himself and grabbed her arm. "Get up. We have to talk."

Joey looked up at him, completely puzzled, but got up. "If you know what's best for your health, you'll let go of my arm. And then you'll go to an AA meeting or two." She whispered the last part as he led her through the stacks of bookshelves.

"And if you know what's good for you, you'll stop having your bulky friends approach me. I don't need friends." He let go of her arm and turned to her. "And I especially don't need your friends." He hissed.

"I thought you might want someone to hang out with so you could take your

mind off of your drinking." She hissed back. "I know it's not much, but it can help if you're around the right crowd."

"So you think _your_ friends are the right crowd?" He chuckled. "You're just Miss Perfect, aren't you?"

"I never said that." Her anger had died down a little.

"Then why did you have them come up to me? I got the feeling those guys don't even like me." He continued to argue, using wild hand gestures.

"Well maybe it's because you were a jerk to them. They told me how you acted." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"This rumor mill churns way faster than I thought, doesn't it?" He combed his fingers through his hair. "And I thought I told you not to tell anyone?" He murmured angrily.

"I told them before you told me not to tell anyone." She truthfully defended.

He sighed heavily. "Look, why do you care so much about me and my drinking 'problem'?" He used quotes with his fingers for the last word.

"Because, despite how much I loathe and despise you, I know that even though you are a world class jerk you aren't all that bad. And I don't want to see anyone die. Even you. Especially when I could've prevented it." She was at a soft whisper now.

"So this is so you can feel better about yourself?" He challenged. "I should have known. This is just self-esteem points for you, so you can look back on me and think you made a difference." He accused.

She shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant, I just think-"

"Don't think." His voice was no longer low. "Don't think about me, or anything that has to do with me. We had a terrible blind date that neither of us were happy with. Why do you think I went and got a drink anyway? You were driving me insane."

Joey jerked back in shock. "You were drinking that night because of me?"

He chortled bitterly. "What? Is that a bruise to your ego or something? Of course I was drinking because of you. I'd been sober for four months before that. You were just really boring. And you piss me off." His smile didn't really reach his eyes when he saw the pale look on her face.

"Fuck you." She spat.

He could have swore he heard her voice shake. "You're not my type."

"You know what? It's not my fault you were drinking. It's your own fault. You're just too worthless to stop. And you're too pathetic to admit to yourself that it's your problem, so you're blaming it on me. You're just looking for an excuse because you killed your four month streak." Her eyes burned holes through him. "You did it. Not me. I didn't force that drink down your throat."

Giving him one last glare, she turned on her heels and stormed out of the library.


	4. Chapter 4: Sympathetic Gestures

**Sorry for the long wait, the format is messed up in the copy I have and I have to fix it in every chapter before I post it and there are twenty chapters...thanx for being patient. Thanx so much for the reviews! I'm happy to see that you all like this!**

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**A Time So Simple**

"Hey Bessie."

"Hey Joey." Bessie was overly dusting the living room when Joey walked in. "Dad will be here any second."

She sighed deeply. "I don't care."

"Jo, you're so grounded if you don't help out around here. He's your father too." Bessie argued, still cleaning.

"No he's not."

"Joey, yes he is." Bessie bickered back.

"How many times am I going to have to repeat myself, Bess? That man is not my father." She threw her backpack down on the ground in the kitchen as she rummaged for something to eat. "He's a sperm donor."

"Jo!" Bessie yelled, appalled.

"I'm not lying Bessie. He hasn't done anything but help conceive us." She bit into the apple that she'd gotten from the counter. "And make our lives a living hell, but I chose to block that from my memory."

"When are you going to learn to forgive him?" Bessie asked lightly. "He's said he's sorry a million times."

"Talk is so cheap coming from him." She paused to swallow the piece of apple in her mouth. "He's off doing a different slut every night while you and Bodie are here doing his job! How is that sorry?" She yelled. "He's still doing the unforgivable and I don't have to forgive him! He's still a half-assed father and I hate him!"

Just then, the creak of the screen door broke through their arguing and Mike Potter walked through, holding a suitcase, his facial expression telling everything. "Hey sweethearts." He muttered.

Joey rolled her eyes and stooped down to get her book bag. "I feel sick all of a sudden. I'm going to take a nap." She marched past the gazes to her room.

**PJPJPJ**

"When are we going to get the rest of our stuff?"

"When Mom and Dad send it." She stared at him, knowing something was bothering him. "What's wrong? You miss Dawson?"

He shook his head and shifted on the uncomfortable couch. "A little bit." Dawson was his best friend back in Boston.

"Pace, as soon as we get done settling in, he can come visit you. I promise." Gretchen talked from the kitchen as she put the food away she'd just gotten from the grocery store.

He looked at her with a forced smile. "Sounds good."

She notice how his demeanor didn't change. "Okay, what's really wrong?"

He opened his mouth and started to tell her, but then shook his head. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Pacey," she pointed the roll of meat at him. "Tell me or I'll salami you to death."

He chuckled and then clicked off the TV, turning on the couch and facing her in the kitchen. "Okay, I kind of uh, did something bad today."

"That's nothing new." She grinned.

He chortled. "No uh, this was really bad. I hurt someone's feelings."

"On your first day of school? Pacey, you really are a heartbreaker." Her voice was sarcastic.

"You're outright incapable of having a serious conversation, aren't you?" He asked with faux suspicion.

She laughed. "I'm sorry. I am capable. I'm just," she waved her hands, motioning to him and her, "this is just new to me. This is going to be our first serious conversation and I have to provide you with some sort of motherly advice and I just don't know if I can do it." She sat down next to him.

"I don't want motherly advice, I want _your_ advice. I want to know what _you_ think about the situation." He smiled softly. "I'm sure you'll do great."

She smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

He shrugged playfully. "And if you suck at this, I can always call Mom."

She stared at him death threateningly as he chuckled. "I take that back. No thanks." She pushed his shoulder humorously. "Now go ahead, lay it on me."

He let out a deep breath. "Alright. You remember the brunette that I went out with when you went out with her friend?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Well, the brunette goes to my school. Surprise, surprise." He said flatly. "And well, with her knowing about my drinking…" he searched for a word, "_dilemma_, she tried to help me."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"I kind of told her to leave me the hell alone because she was the reason I drank for the first time in four months anyway." He pushed it all out as quick as he could.

Gretchen sighed. "Ouch."

"I know." He rubbed his face with his hand. "And I don't know why I care at all that I said that to her because she really gets on my nerves. It's just the look on her face when I told her that. I can't get it out of my head."

"That's because you have a conscience, Pace. You know that it was wrong for you to say something like that to her." She rubbed his back sympathetically. "And now you have to apologize."

"I don't like your advice very much." He shook his head at her with a small grin.

"Because I'm right. And because Pacey Witter doesn't know the first thing about apologizing to someone." She stood up in front of him, ready to go back to the kitchen. "Just say what you feel you need to say to her. Tell the truth."

Pacey considered his big sisters words as she walked away, leaving him to his thoughts.

**PJPJPJ**

"Tomorrow night's the night." Audrey said, feigning cheerfulness.

"The night for what?" Joey asked, then her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, the night for that."

"Are you guy's doing anything special?" Jen smiled. "You know, candlelight dinner, a walk on the beach?"

Audrey shook her head softly and stared down at her Food Shack breakfast. "No. He just told me to come by at eight and we'd do it then."

Jen and Joey shared a skeptical look before looking back at Audrey.

Audrey rolled her eyes at their look. "Not everyone's first time is romantic, guys. My mom told me hers was in the trunk of a Toyota with her best friends boyfriend." She shrugged unflappably. "Some people don't have to have a romantic night to make the first time mean something."

"But don't you want to look back on that night and smile?" Jen asked worriedly. "From all of times you've wanted to have sex but have held back because your virginity was precious to you…is this really what you were saving it for?"

"Jen's right, Audrey. I mean, you're wonderful. You deserve a memorable first time."

"Maybe I don't want one." She shrugged again.

"Maybe CJ's pressuring you." Jen observed. "And if he is, God have mercy on his soul because I'm telling Jack to kick his ass."

"He's not pressuring me, Jen." Audrey assured.

"Are you sure? He used to try to do that to me." Joey informed, staring directly into her friend's eyes.

Audrey had never heard that. "No, he's not pressuring me." Audrey reassured with more effort.

"But you would tell us?" Jen pressed. "You would tell us if he was?"

"Of course." Audrey chirped, moving her eggs around on her plate. She heard the bell over the door chime and looked up, thankfully seeing their three friends. "The guys are here."

Joey looked over her shoulder and saw them making their way towards them. Looking back at Audrey, she gave her friend one sympathetic look before getting up and quickly meeting Drue half way. "Drue, I think CJ's pressuring Audrey into having sex." She hissed quietly to him.

"What?" He asked worriedly.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the restaurant so that they were ahead of their friends. "Drue, I never told you guys this because I knew you'd kill him but…" She sighed and looked away from his eyes. "One night, CJ and I were making out and he, he tried to move forward." She looked up at his eyes. "Of course I didn't let him. And he tried again and again, and I still didn't let him." She paused shortly. "And he was trying to tell me that he loved me and it was about time that we did it, but after seriously debating and considering it I said no and I left, and a few days later, we broke up."

"How could you not tell us this?" Drue asked in shock.

"Because I didn't think he should have to deal with you guys because of me being scared to put out." Before he could correct the guilt in that sentence she continued. "And when he and Audrey first started dating, I tried to warn her. But she really likes him. And I think she really feels something for him but, I don't think she's ready, Drue. I can see it in her eyes." She paused and sighed. "And he told her to come by his house at eight tomorrow night so they could have sex. And she's going."

Drue sighed and brought his hand up to rub the muscles in his neck. "I can't believe you kept this from us, Jo."

She looked at him regretfully. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It's just, next time, I want to know these things. I need to know these things because I want to set these guys straight when it comes to you guys." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't ever be afraid to tell me anything, alright Jo. No secrets."

She smiled as he pulled her into his embrace. "Okay, no secrets."

"Now let's get to school." He pulled her next to him and she snuggled up to him.

**PJPJPJ**

Joey walked out of Misses Matthews' class and bumped into a stiff body by accident. "Sorry." She mumbled without looking up.

"Wait."

She felt the familiar grip on her arm and as she looked up at his face, she wrenched her arm away. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me, seeing as how I piss you off and all."

"You do." He followed behind her as she walked. "But I still owe you an apology."

"Save it. I don't want one from you. I don't want anything from you but a lack of proximity." She weaved through her peers as she talked to him.

"Can you just wait a minute?" He pleaded, following closely behind her.

"For what?" She spun around, despite the people's way she had just gotten in. "What do you want to apologize for? You said what you needed to say."

"No, I didn't. I said what would make me feel better about myself and my situation." He sighed, pushing his hand through his hair. "I just think that you should know that none of what happened that night was your fault."

"Wow." She said with fake shock. "You are just so smart. Did you figure that out all by yourself or did somebody help you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Look, I know you don't have any reason to forgive me for what I said, and I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm just telling you that none of it was your fault. And I don't think it was your fault." He sighed softly as he stared down at her. "It's just important that you know that."

"Why?" She asked curiously. "Why is it so important?"

He sighed again, staring directly into her eyes. "Because I feel like what I said to you really hit home. I could tell by the way you looked at me that what I'd said didn't leave you unscathed." His suspicion was confirmed with the look she had on her face at the moment. "But I'm a jerk as you already know and I speak before I think sometimes."

She squinted her eyes to seek sincerity inside of him and found it. "Apology accepted." She sighed out. When an awkward silence took over, she smiled softly. "And did you see that? You just preformed something humanly. There is hope for you still." She giggled lightly before turning around and walking away.

And Pacey found himself smirking at her retreating form.

**PJPJPJ**

Jen, Jack and Joey walked into her living room, coming face to face with her father bouncing Alex on his knee. Joey immediately rolled her eyes and signaled for her friends to ignore him.

"Jen and Jack? You two still putting up with Joey, eh?" He sat Alex on the floor and stood up, motioning for them to shake his hand.

Jack and Jen obliged, purposely ignoring Joey's death glare.

"You been hitting the weights there, Jack-man?" Mike slapped the man's broad shoulders.

"Yes sir." Jack answered with a small grin.

"How much are you benching now, fella?"

"Two-hundred even, sir." He smirked proudly. "I think I'll stop there too."

Mike nodded. "That's right, you don't want to get too ahead of yourself." He turned to Jen and whistled playfully. "Jen Lindley, you have grown up to be one fine lady. Your almost as beautiful as my Joey." He glanced at his daughter who looked away when he did.

"I don't think I'll ever be that lucky." Jen smiled turning to glance at Joey when she noticed the gesture between the two of them.

"I bet you two have to beat them off with a stick." He looked back at Jen.

"Drue, Charlie and especially Jack take care of that for us." Jen giggled, bumping her hip with Jack's playfully.

"Yeah sir, we keep those hoodlum boys away from Jen and your d-" He felt Joey pinch his back and he hurriedly cleared his throat. "Your Joey." He corrected himself, his attempt at humor failing.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, until Joey rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sound. "Come on guys. We came here to hang out, not mingle with Mike."

He set his eyes on Joey in mild shock, obviously hurting. "I'll let you kids get back to whatever it is you were doing then." He forced a smile.

"Thanks." She said dryly, smiling flatly at him and walking towards her room.

When they got to her room, Jen shook her head at Joey. "He's trying, Jo."

She threw her backpack on her fluffy bed. "No, he's not."

"He's not so bad, Jo. I agree with Jen." Jack added hesitantly. "I mean, he's trying to make up for what he's done."

"Look, don't talk to me about what my father is trying to do. You guys don't understand." She sighed and flopped down on her bed. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"You never want to talk about it." Jen complained. "You only talk to Drue about it. You never give us a chance."

"Drue understands it better than anyone. He was there the day my father lost his right to call me his daughter and he was there when my mother died. Drue's been there with me, so he can sit there and he can listen and he can understand with no questions asked why that man in the living room is not entitled to be my father anymore." Her chest rose and fell as she breathed hard. "You guys wouldn't understand unless you were there."

Jen propped her hand on her hip. "Jo, we were friends back then, we were just-"

"Jen, I really don't want to talk about this anymore. Can we please change the subject?" Joey shuffled through the books in her book bag.

Before Jen could protest, Jack cleared his throat. "So I seen you and that new guy in the hall today. What was that about?"

"He was apologizing for something." She met Jack's disapproving gaze. "He said some things to me in the library that were harsh and he felt bad." She pressed.

"That was you two yelling at each other in the library that day?" Jen asked

dumbly. "Of course it was. Why didn't I figure that out?"

"He was yelling at you?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"We were arguing." Joey corrected. "When people argue, their voices automatically rise. It's just a thing that people do sometimes." She shrugged sarcastically.

"What did he say?" Jack asked curiously, opening his spiral binder.

Joey chewed on her lip. "Oh, he just said something about how I needed to mind my own business. But he apologized."

"The guy was right before he apologized, Jo. You do need to mind your own business." He raised his brows at her surprised look. "Guys like him don't want any help. He's going to have to find out the hard way that his lifestyle is a complete wreck."

"Yeah. That's how my uncle found out." Jen added, "He accidentally cooked his cat, Pinky." When they looked at her awkwardly, she shrugged. "What? I mean, if you didn't have perfect vision, that cat looked like a ham." She grinned. "And he tasted delicious."

"Ew." Joey grimaced.

"That's sick." Jack exclaimed throwing a pillow at her.

She caught it, her body wracked with giggles. "What? It's true." She shrieked.

**PJPJPJ**

"Joey Potter?"

Joey looked up from her book. "You." She said without any emotion.

"Don't sound so happy to see me." He grinned and sat down in front of her on the grass. "Is this what you've been doing since I've been gone? Tsk, tsk, tsk." He shook his head disapprovingly. "Where are the rest of your power rangers?"

She stared at him blankly. "Don't you have anything better to do than harass me?"

He pretended to think. "Uh, nope. Nothing at all."

She rolled her eyes and reluctantly closed her book. "When did you get back?"

"Last night. My pop said your pop was in town. So I thought I'd better get back and see you while you were still vulnerable." He smiled.

"Just more proof that you're as pathetic as I've always thought. But you know what?" She grinned at him dryly. "Not if you were the last man on earth."

"I don't believe you." He ran his fingers through his hair.

"You never do and yet everything I've said to you has been true." She stuffed her book in her backpack.

"So, what do you say? You and me tonight at seven? My treat." Eddie stood up when he saw her getting ready to stand and stuck out a hand to help her.

She ignored his helping hand and stood on her own. "I'm busy."

"What about tomorrow?"

"Still busy." She began walking away.

"What about the day after that?" Eddie continued, following after her.

"Eddie, maybe you don't get it. As long as it's you who's asking the question, I'll always be busy." She turned around to face him which left her walking backwards.

"Well you know, at Junior Prom, they are going to vote me king." He said smoothly.

"Or CJ. In fact, he has a better chance at it than you." She smiled mischievously, knowing that'd make him mad.

He hid his anger. "That bastard isn't going to win. But anyway, when I win, if you're my girl, that's an automatic shoe-in for you as queen."

She was still walking backwards. "You think I care about that? Give me a break. To clarify things, I dated CJ because he was nice and gorgeous. You on the other hand don't obtain either of those qualities, and you're severely lacking in the latter's department."

He put his hand over his chest. "Ow. Josephine. You wound me."

She grinned. "I try." She slammed into someone, almost falling until the person's strong arms locked around her, preventing her from falling.

"Whoa." Pacey said lowly, helping her steady herself on her feet by placing his hands on her hips.

She turned to Pacey with shocked eyes. "I'm so sorry, Pacey."

"Don't be sorry." Eddie butted in. "Watch where you're going next time, jerk." He said acidly to Pacey.

"Eddie, I was walking backwards." She defended.

"But he had to have seen you." Eddie argued back.

"But he didn't. And I was the one walking backwards."

"Hey. It's okay." Pacey grabbed her arm so she'd look at him. "I'm sorry. I was looking down at this damn homework," he held up the papers in his hand, "instead of where I was going." He stole a sharp look at Eddie. "Didn't mean to upset your boyfriend." He added evenly.

"He's not my boyfriend." She said immediately.

Pacey smiled dryly at Eddie. "Good. I didn't want to have to give you the whole speech about how you should never settle for less."

Eddie scowled at Pacey. "I don't believe we've met."

"I don't believe I mind." Pacey backfired and then looked down at Joey. "I'll see you later, Joey."

She smiled up at Pacey softly. "You remembered my name."

He shrugged with a breathtaking smile. "It took long enough."

"And here I thought you were just slow." She called after him as he walked away.

He turned to her with sarcastically furrowed eyebrows. "You know, I get that a lot."

"I could imagine why." She shot back, his smile heavily emblazoned in her mind.

"Who the hell is that dick?" Eddie asked watching Pacey walk away with his eyes narrowed on the brown haired boy.

"The new kid." She answered finally taking her eyes off of Pacey and looking at Eddie. "But I have to go."

"Wait. I want to walk you to class." Eddie offered.

"I don't think that's necessary." She shook her head. "I can make it there safe and sound all by myself." She rolled her eyes and walked away from him.

**PJPJPJ**

"Thanks to Labor Day on Monday, we have a three-day weekend coming up. So what will we do? Are we going to the movies? Are we going to the Food Shack? In other words, are we going to rot and die of boredom?" Audrey rolled her eyes and flopped back on her bed.

"Let's sneak into that strip club down on Easton Street." Charlie rubbed his hands together.

Jen slapped him on the back of his head. "Shut up, jerk. We've tried that already."

"And that didn't turn out so hot." Jack piped in, laying his head on Audrey's stomach.

"So then I guess it's the Food Shack and the movies." Joey shrugged nonchalantly.

"I hate that we're bored, tired little souls." Drue sighed.

"We're not tired." Jen corrected. "We've just yet to discover the amazing things that we see on TV which are also known as the places beyond Capeside."

"Why don't we ever drive to Boston for the weekend?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Uh, because our parents would kill us?" Audrey suggested.

"You forget," Joey began, "I have no parents. I just live in a house with my sister and her husband."

"That's worse. Bessie would slaughter you." Jack laughed.

"Which is why she won't know. I'll say I'm spending the night at one of you guy's house." Joey grinned.

"What about our parents?" Audrey asked sitting up and pushing Jack's head down to her lap. "Mine would kill me if they ever found out the truth."

Drue raised his hand. "Mine couldn't care less."

"Grams would let me." Jen added. "I'd just tell her I was visiting my cousin, Alyssa."

"Ooh, Alyssa." Charlie rubbed his hands together. "I remember her."

Jen narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm sure you do, you pervert."

"I can just say that I'm going to Providence to see Andie." Jack pushed his hand through his hair. "Although I'd really have to pay her a visit in case she calls my parents."

"I'm sure I could talk my mom into letting me go." Charlie shrugged. "I lie pretty good."

"Am I the only one who has strict parents?" Audrey asked tiredly. "Fine. I'm lying to them. But CJ's coming too." She raised her arm to look at her watch. "And speaking of boyfriends…" She moved Jack's head from her lap and stood up. "I have to go."

"Where to?" Joey asked and then looked pointedly at Drue for him to do something.

Audrey met Joey's eyes knowingly. "You know where to." She grinned.

"Aud, you're making a mistake. CJ's pressuring you." Drue spoke up.

"He's what?" Charlie piped in, sitting up.

"He's not pressuring me." She assured flippantly.

"He did it to me, Audrey. I just didn't give in." Joey looked at her friend helplessly. "He told me that he loved me and that we should move to the next step so he could prove his love to me. He did to me what he's doing to you." Joey pleaded.

"When?" Jack asked with furrowed brows. "I would have killed him if I'd know that. He was just saying that so-"

"So he could have sex with me, I know. I'm not stupid." Joey said looking at Jack.

"Oh, and I am?" Audrey asked offended. "Jo, let's get this out in the open. Are you jealous?"

Joey looked appalled. "Of course not. Not at all."

"Then what is this?" She waved her hand at Joey.

"She's trying to help you." Jen defended Joey. "She dated the asshole herself."

"But maybe he changed." Audrey argued.

"None of the things that I said he used to say to me rang any bells?" Joey asked skeptically. "If you can honestly look me in my eyes and tell me that I didn't recite at least one of his tired lines, then I'll let you walk out that door and you'll never hear another thing about it from me."

"But you'll hear about it from me." Jack piped in.

"Me too." Drue added.

"Yeah," Charlie started, "and me."

"Even me." Jen added.

Audrey's eyes coated with tears before she snatched her jacket off the back of her door. "All of you can go to hell." She sniffled, storming out of the room.

Joey dropped her face in her hands and Drue wrapped his arm around her. "Jo, it'll be alright."

"No it won't." She moved away from his touch and stood up. "I'm going home."

"I'll walk you since I'm going home too." Charlie offered, standing up and throwing on his coat.

Drue sighed as he stared helplessly at Joey. "Joey, she's going to be alright. Don't worry." He moved to wrap his arms around her and pulled her in so he could place a soft kiss on her forehead. "She's not stupid either."

Joey sighed and waved to Jen and Jack. "Bye guys."

"See ya, Jo."

"Bye Joey. And you, me and Audrey are going to the mall tomorrow, okay?" She waited until Joey nodded. "Okay, see you sweetie."

"Bye."

Joey and Charlie waved to their friends and walked out to be on their way. As soon as they waved to Audrey's mother and walked out of the house, Charlie threw his arm around her shoulders.

"She's not going to make a stupid decision, Jo. If she was, do you think we would've let her walk out of there that easily?" He grinned at her when she looked up at him. "Jo, she was listening to you. She just hated the fact that you were right."

"I know. I just, I don't want her to be mad at me." She rolled her eyes. "I hate it when you guys are mad at me."

"I've never been mad at you. Neither has Drue, Jack or…well, you and Jen do have your little spats from time to time." He shrugged his shoulders. "But they don't last longer than twenty-four hours." He cleared his throat. "But what I'm saying is that we've never been mad at each other for over a day. And this time will be no exception."

"I guess you're right." She sighed.

"When am I ever not right?" He joked, dropping his arm to rest on her hip. "I'm always right."

"Not always, Charlie." She smiled acutely.

"Name a time I was wrong?"

"How about the time when you said putting foil in the microwave wasn't dangerous, it was just a myth to scare kids?" She pointed at him. "Or the time when you told me that zombies were real."

He laughed. "I wasn't wrong, I was just saying that to scare you."

"And it worked, you cretin." She smacked the back of his head.

"You were such a 'fraidy cat." He laughed, dodging more of her swings. "You spent the night over my house for almost three weeks before I told you that zombies really weren't real." His smile softened. "And you didn't talk to me for a couple of hours."

She smiled softly too. "Because you called a truce and had your mom bake me a whole batch of the famous Todd Chocolate Chip Cookies."

"Dude, how old were we?" He asked, the memories rushing him.

"We were like ten." She chuckled. She was about to add something else but the fight she saw happening from the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. She and Charlie watched heavily until she realized who the guy that had just gotten punched was. "Charlie, that's Pacey." She said alertly, running towards the small crowd of people.

"Jo, wait up!" Charlie yelled running after her.

Joey got up close enough to see that the person fighting Pacey was well over him in age and was beginning to kick his butt. "Charlie, help him!" Joey cried in panic when she saw Pacey fall to the ground from an effective blow to the face.

Charlie did as she asked, stepping in and punching the older man square in the jaw with hard force. The small crowd gasped when the older man fell over, clutching his cheek in his hand.

Joey fell on her knee's next to Pacey and brought her hand down to touch his wounded cheek. She winced with him as she ran her fingers along the bloodiest cut. "Pacey, we've got to get you to a hospital." She said calmly.

"No." He grunted. "I'm goin' home."

She smelled the liquor roll off of him and shook her head in sympathy. "Are you drunk, Pacey?"

Struggling to sit up, he clapped three slow times. "You figured that out all by yourself, didn't you?" He chuckled bitterly. "I knew you were a bright little fucker."

She looked up to see Charlie standing over them. "Charlie, help me get him up."

Charlie bent over and helped Pacey up. "Are we taking him to the hospital."

"No." Pacey slurred through his swollen lips. "I'm goin' home." When he was to his feet, he pushed their helping hands away and stumbled around before falling right back to the ground.

Joey looked on in pure pity. "Oh my god." She muttered with a shake of her head.

Charlie licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. "Look, Pacey. We can see that you're in no condition to get home by yourself, so we're going to help you. But you've got to tell us where you live." He ran his eyes over Pacey's bloody light blue shirt before looking up at Joey. "Do you know where he lives?"

She shook her head. "No, but maybe he has a wallet or something…" She went to stick her hand in his pocket but Pacey swatted it away.

"I can tell you where I live." He spat, glaring at her as if she was the one who had beaten him up. "I live at 284 Usher Drive." He coughed and struggled to get up but wasn't able to do so without Charlie's help.

"Okay." Joey nodded. "I think that's where the beach houses are." She told Charlie. "So you can go to your house and get your mom's car because he's in no condition to walk and-"

"I can walk." He spat, glaring at her again.

"No you can't!" She yelled, angry with his attitude. "You're drunk off your ass and you can't walk three measly steps without falling over! Your face is swelling, you have blood everywhere, you're going to let us help you!"

"I am?" He asked rhetorically. "And what if I don't?"

"That's not an option." She looked away from him and to Charlie. "Look, you walk home the rest of the way and get your mom's car, I'll wait here with him."

Charlie furrowed his brows. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She looked at Pacey who had fallen again and was now leaned up against a building. "I'm sure."

He looked at Pacey once more before nodding. "Alright, I'll be right back. Be safe." Charlie told her seriously before jogging down the street.

Joey sighed and went to sit next to Pacey. She looked over at him and watched as he rested his head on the wall behind him. "Why were you two fighting?" She looked around, wondering where the older guy and the small crowd had fled off to.

"Could we just not talk?" He asked heatedly. "I don't like you."

Joey wanted to say something mean or equally hurtful, but reframed. "Fine." She sighed, looking down at her feet.

He sighed heavily in regret. "You weren't supposed to just say 'fine', you were suppose to backfire." He turned his head to look at her, never taking his head up off the wall. She shrugged and didn't look at him. After taking a moment to look at her and accidentally notice her exquisite features, he took a deep breath. "I was in a bar just over there," he pointed to a small bar, "playing poker with a couple of guys. We had some drinks, and you know how I get when I drink." He chuckled softly, moving his head back so he was looking out at the street again.

"Anyway, I kept on winning of course because I am the Poker king. And then I guessed it was time for me to go home, so I quit playing, and started stuffing my money in my wallet. Somehow, my ID fell out, they found out I was a minor, and that really upset the guy, so he followed me out of the bar and started pummeling me." He chortled to himself. "I tell you, if I wasn't drunk, I would have whooped his ass."

She watched him as he clutched his stomach and took deep breaths every other second. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

He laughed. "I think you walked up soon enough to know that I didn't do this to myself."

She rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Not the beating up part. I'm talking about the drinking. Why do you drink?"

He sniffed and then shrugged his shoulders. "Because it tastes good. And because it helps me. It helps me ease the pain." He murmured.

She bit her lip curiously. "What pain?"

"Shut up." He snapped. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well I think I deserve to know something. I'm helping you, remember?"

"And I didn't want your help, remember?" He waved his arms around. "I told you I could walk. I didn't ask you and your little macho man friend to assist me."

"Fine." Joey scuffled to her feet. "Fine. Walk home then, Pacey. We won't help you. In fact, when he gets here, I'll just tell him to leave you there and we'll just go home and forget all about tonight. We'll leave you on your own. We'll let you get your own fucking ass home." She tightened her coat around her body and began walking the way she knew Charlie's car would come from.

Pacey sighed and moved his head up from the wall to watch as she began walking down the street. "Joey, I'm sorry." His raspy voice filled the empty streets.

She slowly came to a halt. "You're sorry?"

He sighed again. "Yes. I'm sorry, okay? Right now I'm just…drunk." He laughed lightly and shrugged.

Biting her lip, she turned around to face him. Staring directly into his swollen eyes, she walked back towards him. "I know I'm not the best person to get help from, but it's better than nothing, right?"

He dropped his head back on the wall behind him again. "Right."

Then, they sat there in silence until Charlie arrived.

**PJPJPJ**

Joey and Charlie supported Pacey's body from the car to the porch of his and his sister's beach house.

"Do you have the keys?" Joey asked the half-asleep Pacey as the three of them struggled up the steps.

"It's open." He slurred.

When they got to the door, Joey turned the knob and sure enough, it was open. When they got inside, they hurriedly got Pacey to the blue couch in the middle of the living room and dropped him down on it.

"Thank God." Charlie sighed. "He weighs a ton."

"I know." Joey looked around the beach house which was turning out nicely. "Go look for some bandages or a first aid kit or something, and look for some clean clothes, I'll get a wet towel and wipe the blood off of his face and I'll get some ice." When Charlie nodded in agreement and fled off, she went to the kitchen and grabbed some hand towels off of the roll sitting on the counter and a small bowl of water.

When she made her way back to the living room, Pacey was fast asleep. She kneeled down next to him and wet one of the paper towels in the bowl. Gently, she began wiping the dried blood away from his skin.

He stirred lightly and his eyes fluttered open. "Are you raping me?" He asked groggily, a cocky smile spreading across his face.

She snorted. "You wish." She grabbed his chin to steady his face. "Stay still." Her tongue peeked out the side of her mouth as she concentrated.

He kept his eyes focused on the pink flesh peeking from her lips. "You didn't have to do this."

"Believe me, I know." She smiled shortly. "But I couldn't just leave you there."

"You were about to." His eyes followed her as she moved to get another paper towel.

"I wasn't really going to leave." She grinned mischievously. "I knew you'd call me back."

"And how did you know that?" He asked confused.

"Because I could tell you didn't want to be alone." She met his eyes and finally noticed the intense blueness. "And besides," she broke the moment that had began to start, "if you saw me getting beat up by some older woman and I was drunk, wouldn't you come help me?"

He scrounged his face in thought. "It depends on how hot this other woman is and what the two of you are wearing."

She shook her head. "Never mind."

"I would." He sighed out. "As much as I despise admitting it, I would."

"Even though you don't like me?" She raised a brow at him.

He yawned. "You know that was just the liquor talking."

"How do I know that what you just said wasn't the liquor talking?" She asked, wiping at the last cut.

"You don't. It probably is the liquor talking." He sighed. "Every damn thing I've said tonight has been the liquor talking."

"They say you tell the truth when you're drunk." She shrugged nonchalantly. "So you know, if you really don't like me at all, it's okay. I mean, I don't like you either."

"If you don't like me, then why are you doing this for me?" He asked slowly, his voice full of sleep. But he met her eyes.

Before she could answer, Charlie descended the stairs. "Here, I found some Neosporin and some gauze." He handed it to her. "And I found a shirt and some flannel pants." He handed that to her to and then pointed towards the kitchen. "I'm going to go call mymom and tell her that everything's okay. I didn't really get to explain a lot when I just ran out with the keys."

Joey nodded. "Okay. Go."

Charlie nodded and then went past them to the kitchen.

"You used to date him?" Pacey asked sloppily.

Joey frowned. "No."

"What about the tall pretty boy one?" He asked.

"Drue? The one your sister went out with?" Pacey nodded. "No, he's just been my friend for a long time."

"You didn't even date the brawny one?"

She chuckled. "Jack? No, I never dated any of them. We're friends. Nothing more."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked curiously as she put some gauze on the cut over his eye.

She smiled indifferently. "No. Not at the moment."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I guess I'm just not interested in anyone."

"Not even that greasy guy from school?" He asked sarcastically.

"Eddie?" She shook her head. "He's been asking me out for months. I always turn him down."

He smiled softly. "Good. Because that guy," he shook his head disapprovingly, "he's not the one for you."

"You're giving me advice on guys?" She asked skeptically. "And I thought I'd heard everything."

"No, I'm serious." He assured. "I could tell. That guy is bad news. He just wants one thing from you."

Joey had to nod, Eddie did only want one thing. "I know." She motioned for him to sit up. "I need to change your shirt."

He smirked. "You _are_ raping me."

She shook her head with a dry smile. "Nope. Not this time. I don't think my stomach is strong enough to handle such a thing." After she removed his shirt, she couldn't help but stare at his chest. Bare chest. Except for a tattoo on his upper chest that flexed when he moved his arm. "Who's Eileen?" She read the tattoo.

Pacey wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Why?" He asked somewhat harshly.

"Never mind. I was just wondering." She grabbed the wife beater and pushed it over his head. "I'm not changing your pants."

He laughed, laid down and fluffed the couch pillow that he was laying on. "That's alright. Can you just get me some blankets from that box?" He pointed to a box next to the door.

She went over to the box and opened it, pulling out the covers. A thick blue blanket and a thin beige sheet. She unfolded them and carefully laid them over his body.

"There's enough room on this couch for two." He offered with a sleepy smirk and his eyes still closed.

"I think I'll pass." She smiled down at him dryly.

"It's your loss." He muttered before drifting to sleep.

Joey walked into the kitchen with a tired sigh and saw Charlie eating pizza. She chuckled. "What happened to that phone call?"

He laughed and gave her the piece that he hadn't eaten yet. "I get tired after hard work."

She held the pizza but didn't bite it. "Let's go."

"Is he alright?" Charlie asked, showing true concern.

Joey nodded. "Yeah. His face didn't look so bad once the blood was wiped away."

Charlie wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they began heading out. "He's a lucky guy to have a friend like you."

"We're not really friends." Joey protested.

"Jo," he said disbelievingly, "enemies don't act like that."

"We're not enemies either." She shrugged as they made it to the door. Looking back at Pacey asleep on the couch she smiled softly. "We're just Joey and Pacey." She walked out, eating the pepperoni pizza.

**PJPJPJ**


	5. Chapter 5: Escape

**To make up for my poor updating skills, here's another chapter of this fic. Once I fix the formatting in the whole fic, then I'll update like once a day. Sorry for all the delays and crap. Enjoy though! This is my favorite fic that I've written. I think I portrayed the surreal teenage life of the creekers really good and I think this story had it's mixture laughter, friendship, heartbreak, pain and pleasure. Thanx for reading and another thanx for those who are reading again. I really appreciate it.**

**A Time So Simple**

**PJPJPJ**

Joey walked out of her room and saw a lithe young blonde about in her mid-twenties sitting on the sofa. Her skirt rode up past mid-thigh when she sat down, and her halter top revealed a peach slither of skin and exposed her pierced bellybutton.

"Who are you?" Joey narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"Hi." She had a southern accent. The woman stood up and stuck her hand out to Joey. "My name's Barbie. A man named Bodie let me in. He told me I could wait for Mike here and he'd be back in a minute."

After Joey took her hand away, she looked at Barbie puzzled. "What do you want with Mike?"

Barbie looked slightly baffled. "I'm his fiancée."

Joey's mouth fell open. "Fiancée?" She snorted. "And your name's Barbie? How typical." She said bitterly.

At that moment, Mike and Bessie walked through the door. Mike looked at Barbie and smiled happily. "Barbie." He grabbed her and spun her around.

"Bessie, this human invention of Matel is his fiancée." She pointed to Barbie and looked at Bessie. "Did you know that?"

"Jo, Dad's been trying to tell you for days but you just haven't been here." Bessie informed.

"And you think this is acceptable? I mean, what is this? Bimbo number one hundred five."

"Jo, cut it out." Bessie ordered.

"No, I won't cut it out. I mean, not only does he come into our home when he's not welcome, but he brings this fake blonde in here? And she's younger than you? I mean, God Bessie. Isn't anything he does wrong to you?" Joey frowned at her sister. "I can't believe you're okay with this."

"Joey, it's not our life." Bessie tried to reason.

"Oh, it's not our life? So when he cheated on Mom, it wasn't our life? And when he sold drugs from our home, it wasn't our life? When he left us here parentless, it wasn't our life?" Joey's eyes watered. "I hate this house.

And as long as this man and his life-size Barbie are here, I'm not staying here."

"Joey, can we talk about this." Mike tried to plead.

"There's nothing to talk about." She waved her hands at him. "You made your choice a long time ago, Mike. And this is how I'm reacting to it. I hate you. I hate what you did to Mom, I hate that you exist. I wish you would

have just stayed in jail. I wish you died." She was crying openly. "I can't stand you." Turning around, she stormed away to her room and she could hear Bessie following after her.

"Joey, what in the hell is wrong with you?" She screamed. "How can you say that to your father?"

"He. Is Not. My. Father." She wrapped her coat around her. "How many times do I have to say that to you? I hate him, I don't want anything to do with him. He can rot in hell and I wouldn't care."

"Joey, he's trying to make up for what he's done. And just because he's getting married doesn't mean he isn't sorry for what he did to Mom. God Joey, he's so sorry for it. He's sorry for what it did to her and for what it did to us." Her voice softened. "But mostly, he's sorry for losing you through it all. You never went to visit him in prison, you never wrote or talked to him when he called."

"He doesn't deserve any of it!" Joey yelled.

"But he's sorry. And it's killing him inside that you won't forgive him." Bessie cried.

"Oh cue the violins." She rolled her eyes and walked out of her room and to the living room.

"Joey, honey, talk to me." Mike pleaded with watery eyes. "You have to understand that I'm sorry." He grabbed her arm but she snatched it away fiercely.

"Don't touch me!" She stared at him with a fierce fire in her eyes that broke his heart. Then, she ran away.

**PJPJPJ**

Where the hell were all of her friends? Jack and Audrey weren't at home, Charlie's mom said he was busy and couldn't come to the phone, Jen had miraculously went to help Grams out at church, Drue wasn't picking up the phone and when she had gotten to his house, she opened his bedroom door and saw him and Morgan in a position that she wished she'd never seen. She felt so alone when she wasn't with them.

Joey had nowhere to go, that's why she was sitting on the chair on Pacey's porch. She didn't know why the hell she was here. Why had his house even come to mind? She didn't know, but she was sitting there, crying on his porch. And no one was home anyway, so she would soon leave and this would never be acknowledged by a living soul.

The door opened. "Don't tell me since you know where I live you're going to be here all the time." He sighed and closed the door after he walked out. "We're not fri-" He finally noticed the tears and frowned concernedly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just didn't have anywhere else to go and all of my friends were busy…" She stood up realizing how stupid it was for her to be there, "but I was just leaving."

He grabbed her wrist. "You don't have to leave."

"No, it's alright. I can leave."

"I don't want you to." He blurted before he could rephrase it to make it sound less friendly. "I mean, I don't want you to leave looking like that. All the tears and the…" He waved his free hand in front of his face, trying to find more words to ramble. "Never mind." He dropped his hand.

She met his eyes briefly. "I can just sit out here and you can go back in. I just, I…"

"Do you want to come inside?" He asked as if she had never been talking. "I could make you something to eat or get you something to drink." He held up the hand that wasn't holding her wrist. "Believe it or not, I do have non-alcoholic beverages."

She chuckled and sniffled uncertainly. "Are you sure? I mean, weren't you just on your way out?"

He chuckled and finally dropped her wrist. "I was actually on my way to oblivion. In other words, I was headed to a bar."

She sighed sadly. "Pacey…"

"I know. Stupid me." He held up his hands. "But, since you're here, and in dire need of a friend, I can try and be the next best thing. We can step into my momentarily alcohol-free abode and just chill. At least until you feel better." He sighed to himself as he turned around to open the door. "I'm beginning to sound like a friend."

She laughed at his comment and walked in behind him, closing the door behind her. "Where's your sister?"

"She had a date." He walked in the kitchen. "She has a lot of those."

Joey walked up behind him and leaned against the counter. "How's your eye? How do you feel?"

"I guess I feel pretty okay, I was on my way to yet another bar." He shook his head as he peered into the refrigerator. "It's a shame how they don't card anybody in this rural community."

She wiped the wetness from her face and sniffed. "I know." Her voice was raw.

He looked up at her as he pulled out a box of pizza. "Are you alright?"

She laughed bitterly. "You don't have to pretend to care. It's alright."

"I'm not pretending," He said casually. "which is weird, because I hardly know you." His face turned serious as he sat the box on the counter. "But I'm not pretending."

"Whatever." She waved her hand at him.

He raised his brows. "You don't believe me?"

She shook her head. "Why should I? You hate me."

He sighed, letting his eyes fall closed. "I don't hate you."

"Then why don't we get along?" She asked shakily.

"Because I'm an asshole and you're not." He answered easily. "I thought you knew that."

"Pacey, you're not an asshole." She paused thoughtfully. "You're a jerk."

"World class." He smiled and wiggled his brows. "And that's why we don't get along." He watched her wipe the wetness that still lingered from her face. "But I found you crying on my porch, so you owe me some kind of explanation."

She widened her red eyes in shock. "I owe you? If we want to get into owing people then-"

"Fine." He held up his hand. "You don't owe me, but I really want to know what's wrong with you. Did somebody hurt you? Did something happen between you and one of your friends?" He waved his hand around in a circular motion. "Did you just feel like crying on my porch?"

She watched him for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't want to tell you."

Despite the vague pain her words mysteriously triggered, he nodded. "I can accept that." He turned to the pizza box and opened it, finding only one piece of pizza. "Wow. Gretchen can eat."

Joey looked at the familiar pizza box and giggled.

Pacey turned to look at her and smile. "What? She can." He said, totally not understanding her reason for laughing. "So what do you want to eat?"

Joey shrugged. "Anything's fine. I'm not really picky."

"Are you sure? Anything? What if I was to suggest squirrel brain?"

Joey grinned softly. "Then I'd say bone appetite."

"Well luckily for the both of us, I won't be suggesting that." He scrounged his face in thought. "Do you eat Chinese?"

"Aw, no rodent meat?" She sighed dramatically. "And you had me so excited."

"Sorry to disappoint, but rodent meat really isn't my kind of meat." He faked a sad look. "But I will order Chinese food. I hope that can make up for the displeasure."

She nodded. "It'll have to do."

"Good. Anything in specific you want?" He asked, pulling the menu from a drawer.

"No, anything's fine." She chortled quietly at the use of the word anything.

"Alright. Anything it is." He pulled open three different drawers, finally pulling out a yellow piece of paper, the Chinese food menu. "You can go look at TV if you like." He pointed towards the living room. "We have nine hundred and ninety nine channels." He smiled proudly.

"Ooh." Joey said dryly, turning to walk in the living room.

"Oh, and Joey?"

"Hmm?" She turned around to see what he wanted.

"We were just getting along." He grinned before picking up the phone and dialing.

Joey smiled and shook her head before going to the living room.

**PJPJPJ**

Joey and Pacey both stared intently at the screen as Jackie Chan shuffle kicked some guy and then pummeled another one to the ground in record time. Joey stuck her fork in the box of chow main as her eyes stared at the

screen. Suddenly, Jackie Chan grabbed some man's head and twisted all the way around.

"Oh my god." She muttered. "That is so disgusting."

"What? That was pure entertainment. Did you hear how real the bone sounded when it cracked?" He asked, spearing his fork in his own box.

"Which further proves my point. That was utterly disgusting."

"What's a Jackie Chan movie without a little neck braking, huh?" Pacey asked poking some food into his mouth.

"A movie that isn't disgusting?" She asked wryly.

"No. It's a movie that isn't entertaining." He paused to shrug. "And really, who wants to see an unentertaining movie?"

"If this is what you call entertainment, then I do." She picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

Pacey frowned. "Joey…" He whined. "That was the best part. He was going to throw that one guy on those spikes."

"Well since you know what happens, I'm sure you can live without seeing it just this once, can't you?" She smiled dryly at him.

"Sure." He answered sitting his box on the coffee table and belching loudly. "Excuse me."

"Ew." She grimaced. "I don't know what was more disgusting. That or the neck cracking in the movie."

"I said excuse me." He shrugged innocently.

She sat her box on the table in front of them. When the silence remained, she bit her lip and looked around the room. "So…"

Pacey raised his brows. "So…"

Joey raised her eyebrows and let her eyes roam over his chest which was muscularly showing from his semi-tight shirt. "So, who's Eileen?"

Pacey absently brought his hand to his chest, the spot where the tattoo was. He rubbed it over his cotton white shirt. "She's my grandma. She passed away last summer."

Joey smiled sadly. "Sorry."

Pacey shook his head slowly. "No, it's alright. She didn't suffer or anything. She went peacefully."

She nodded. "Were you close to her?"

Pacey grinned softly. "Yeah. She meant the world to me."

Joey smiled. Seeing Pacey smile, the way he was now was awkward.

"So uh, how long you and your friends been friends?"

Joey raised her brows in thought. "Well, I don't even remember the first day I met Drue. That's how long I've known him. I just grew up knowing that he was my best friend and that I loved him. And then when I was four, I met Jack and Andie. They're brother and sister. Andie and I don't really get along, but she's in a mental institution now so..."

He looked shocked. "Really? What happened?"

"This girl, Abby Morgan, she died last year at our school. And Andie was there when she died. It just really messed her up." Joey said sadly. "Even though Andie and I don't really like each other, I still go visit her with Jack."

He nodded. "And what about the one that's dating Mandy Jameson?"

"Charlie." She chuckled. "I met him in the first grade. We were both in line for tether ball, and I guess he liked me because he let me go first. Then he started following me around and the next thing I know, I'm having sleepovers at his house." She chuckled. "He's the most flirtatious person I know. But I love him." She sighed."And Jen and Audrey, I met them through Charlie of course, in the second grade. Jen and I didn't get along at first, but I traded her some skittles for some starburst. She was my best friend after that." She laughed.

He chuckled. "I got a good glimpse at those blondes in the library, didn't I?"

"Yeah. Those were the two." She smiled. "Do you have any friends?"

"Back in Boston where I came from, yeah. There's Dawson Leery. He thinks he's God's gift to women. And his parents think he is the most flawless boy alive. He's not." Pacey shook his head with a smile. "And Will Krudski. He's my best friend, but he's not my best friend like Dawson is. Will doesn't uh, drink or anything. Dawson does, so we get along better." He chuckled to himself.

"How long have you known them?" Joey asked, genuinely interested.

"Five years. I met them both at this truancy center from middle school. We've been the three amigo's ever since." He smiled.

"You're from Boston?" She asked, her eyes squinted.

"Yeah. Why?"

She shook her head. "Me and my friends were just talking about going up there for the weekend. We've never really been out of Capeside."

He raised his brows considerately. "You guy's are going this weekend?"

She nodded. "We were talking about it."

"Because my friend Dawson was coming out here for the weekend, but if you guys are going up there I could go with you." His exciting tone quickly vanished. "Unless you don't want me to go." He said coolly.

"No, of course we do. This is great. You guys could show us around." She smiled. "It'll be fun."

"Would you look at this? We're making plans for a weekend trip together." He shook his head. "Who woulda' thought?"

"I guess you aren't really that much of a jerk."

"See," he picked the boxes up from the table, "I knew you could be nice." He walked into the kitchen.

She followed behind him. "Pacey, are you going to drink when you go to Boston with us?" Her voice was light.

He stiffened but quickly hid it. "Of course I am, aren't you?" His back was turned to her as he stood at the sink.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He answered coolly.

"Can I ask you a few more?" She corrected herself.

"Go ahead. Shoot." He turned to her. "But then I get to ask you some."

"Fine." She hopped up on the counter. "But me first." She looked at him thoughtfully. "What made you quit drinking for four months?"

He thought for a brief moment. "Because I thought it was time that I stopped. Evidently, I was wrong." He shrugged.

"What made you drink again?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged casually. "I really don't know."

"Was it me?" She asked seriously. "Be honest."

He sighed. "Of course it wasn't you, Jo, I swear, it was just…" He sighed heavily. "I stopped drinking for my parents. They said if I didn't, they would send me away. So I stopped." He paused. "So one day, my sister Gretchen comes home from college and says that she quit. And my dad told her to get out and take the other failure with her. When she asked who the other failure was, he said it was me. I had been sober for four months, and he didn't even care." He looked away from her eyes.

"I guess when I got here, it just all became real. I was walking the streets of a new place because my father thought I was a failure. I didn't care anymore." He met her eyes. "Drinking takes the pain away."

"Doesn't it just delay the pain?" She asked quietly.

He forced a smile. "Same thing." He shrugged.

"Why did you start drinking in the first place?" Joey cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes, seriously awaiting an answer.

Pacey chuckled uneasily. "Don't you think you've asked enough questions? I think it's my turn."

She bit her lip. "Fine. Ask me questions."

He cocked a brow at her. "Why were you crying?"

Joey slowly hooked a piece of her hair behind her ear and sighed. "My fath-" She paused, bitterly chuckling at her almost statement. "The man who helped my mother conceive me is getting remarried to a bleach blonde Barbie who's actual name is Barbie." She snorted. "He probably doesn't even know her. I'm sure he just met her at some bar and decided to marry her before she realized what and idiot he really is."

Pacey looked confused. "How long have they been dating?"

"I don't know. And I seriously don't care." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well if you don't care then why were you crying?" He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.

Gretchen walked in the kitchen, her brows furrowing at the sight. "Did I walk in the wrong house?"

Pacey sighed. "Gretch, you remember Joey, don't you?"

She smiled forcedly. "How could I forget?" She looked towards Joey.

Joey became uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze. "I think I'm going to go." She hopped down from the counter.

"Don't go on my account." Gretchen said almost bitterly, sticking her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

"No it's not that, it's the…I…" She looked up at Pacey, hoping he could make an excuse for her. When he said nothing she forced a smile at the both of them. "Bye."

Pacey looked puzzled. "You don't have to go, Joey." He stole a sharp glance at Gretchen.

"No, it's alright Pacey. I have to go to Drue's anyway. He should be done doing what he was doing." She looked towards Gretchen. "It was nice seeing you again." She lied convincingly.

Gretchen nodded with a fake smile. "I bet it was."

Joey bit her lip, and flashed one more smile at Pacey before sticking her hands in the pockets of her jeans and leaving the house.

"Gretch, what the hell was that?" Pacey pointed his whole hand to the way Joey had left.

"That was me," she took off her coat, "looking out for my baby brother."

"By scaring away my guest?" He nodded with faux understanding. "Oh well, the next time I look out for you, remind me to use that technique."

"Pacey, getting involved with her will just be the destruction of you." She sighed.

"I'm already destroyed, Gretchen. It's a little too late to try and preserve my well-being." He furrowed his brows even more. "And who in the hell said I was getting involved with her?" He pointed his hand at the vacant spot that Joey had been standing before she left.

"I don't mean that kind of involved. I mean_ involved_. Period." She looked up at her brother's face. "She's one of those girls, Pacey."

"One of what girls?" He was all the way confused now.

She sighed. "One of those girls that you can't just be friends with."

"She has three guy friends that she's known all of her life. They don't look at her that way." He defended.

"Are you sure about that?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "And how would you know? You've known her for less than a week. Which further proves my point because you've known her for less than a week and I walk in on an obvious semi-heart to heart between the two of you and now you're defending her."

"She's a nice person, Gretch. And believe it or not, I like to talk to nice people once in a while."

"Pacey, you have enough issues to deal with already." She said pointedly. "Don't go getting involved with another issue, that's all I'm saying."

Pacey glared at her. "And I'm saying, stay the hell out of my business from now on." He walked to his room.

**PJPJPJ**

Joey walked into Drue's room with her hand over her eyes. "Can I come in now? Is it safe?"

He chuckled from his spot on his bed. "Don't tell me you saw me."

She removed her hand. "I didn't see you and Morgan having sex in this here bed. And I would lay on it, but I'm not that depressed." She stood at the foot of his bed.

He laughed. "I changed the sheets already. So you," he ran his hand over the sheet, somehow thinking that that was showing her the sheets were clean, "are free to hop on in." She hesitantly flopped on the bed next to him. He met her eyes and noticed the vague redness. "Have you been crying?" He asked worriedly.

"Earlier. But it's okay. It's just my dad is marrying some southern chick named Barbie." She said sarcastically.

"Get out." He said incredulously.

"Nope." She shook her head. "I'm serious. And she comes equipped with blonde hair and Barbie clothes."

"Jo, I'm so sorry I was…busy. I was looking for you but everyone said they hadn't heard from you." He softly kissed her forehead. "Where were you?"

She shrugged. "At Pacey's."

"The drinker guy?" He asked curiously. "Why were you at his house?"

"Because, everyone was busy and I didn't have anywhere to go." She shrugged. "But we talked and everything and I feel a little better."

"So he's a caring alcoholic." He nodded understandingly. "I didn't know they existed." He joked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not funny, Drue."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry. Gee, I was just joking."

"It's not a joking matter. It's a serious disease." She said pointedly.

"So you say." Drue sat up. "But I think if the guy wanted to stop, he could."

Joey narrowed her eyes. "Of course he could stop, but it's not that easy. Alcoholism is a very serious disease."

"Well, we both have our own opinions." He shrugged. "Because I think that if an alcoholic wanted to quit like that," he snapped, "they could."

"Can we get off of this subject?" Joey asked burying herself under his comforter. "I just really need to go to sleep."

He nodded and snuggled in next to her. "Sure."

Joey closed her eyes. "Pacey's from Boston," she paused to yawn, "so when we go this weekend, he's going with us."

"Says who?" Drue frowned.

"Says me." She countered sleepily.

"But Jo, we-"

"Drue, think about it. Do you really want to argue with me about this?" She asked warningly, opening her eyes to look at him.

Staring at her for a moment, he finally sighed. "Fine." He relented reaching over her to cut off the light.

Joey grinned. "You're a smart kid." She mumbled before dozing off to sleep.

**PJPJPJ**

Joey narrowed her eyes as she stared at the computer screen. Biting her lip in concentration, she typed at lightening speed some of the paper she was writing.

"Jo, you know what?" Jen crinkled her face. "We didn't go shopping yesterday like we planned." Jen whispered from beside her.

"Because somebody was helping Grams out at church." Joey looked over at Jen, smiling meekly.

"Joey, if that gets out, I'll kill you." Jen warned.

Joey chuckled. "What were you helping her with?"

"The annual church banquet thing. She's the decorator this year, and she said if I wanted to go see Alyssa, I had to help decorate and attend."

Joey nodded. "Blackmail. Grams is such a holy woman." She said sarcastically.

Jen laughed quietly. "Same thing I said."

"Bless her soul." Joey held her hand up and looked towards the ceiling.

Jen giggled and playfully swatted Joey. "Shut up."

Pacey scooted into the chair next to Joey and smiled at her. "Hey." He greeted and then looked across her to Jen. "And I don't believe we've met properly. I'm Pacey." He stuck his hand out to her.

The blonde took his hand. "I'm Jen." She smiled at him. "Pacey, I've heard so much about you."

"Good or bad?" He asked skeptically.

"Both. But the latter has been lacking lately." She grinned.

"And then we shut up." Joey said smiling dryly at Jen.

Pacey chortled and then tapped Joey's shoulder to get her attention. "Well, I just came by to say hi. I saw you sitting here next to this empty seat and decided," he shrugged, "what the hell."

Joey smiled softly. "Well, where are you going after you leave here?"

He scratched at his temple. "I was just going to go home and sleep." He said unconvincingly.

"Pacey, don't you have homework?" She asked. "Do some of your homework like we're doing." She smiled cheekily, raising her brows expectantly.

"Jo, I don't know..." He began to stand up.

She grabbed his arm. "Please?" Her voice bordered helpless. She didn't want him to go drink.

He sighed. "Fine." He pulled the backpack off of his back. "Just remind me never to say hi to you on school grounds again."

She laughed and sat her pencil down. "Now, in Misses Mathews' class we have the Egyptian essay thing. Have you started that?"

He shook his head. "I can't say I have."

"It's due on Tuesday. And if you're really going away with us this weekend, then I suggest you do it now." She ordered.

"Why do you sound like my mother?" He asked curiously, digging through his backpack.

"Because I am." She grinned at the face he made. "And because you don't have one to tell you what to do." She said more seriously.

"One day I'll thank you for this, won't I?" He asked grabbing a pen from on top of Joey's book.

"Yes you will." She patted his back as he scooted his chair up to the computer.

"Hi. My name is Jen and I still exist." Jen waved her hand at Joey.

Joey turned to her. "Oh, Jen, I'm sorry, I was just…"

"Preoccupied?" Jen smiled knowingly.

"Somewhat." She answered promptly.

After sitting there for about five minutes, Pacey leaned over towards Joey. "Uh, what is the mummification process?"

She licked her finger and flipped through their history book. "Here, it's all right here on this page," she turned the page and then hooked a lock of her hair behind her ear, "this page," she scanned the page briefly and then turned the page again, "and then the top half of this page."

Pacey kept shifting his eyes back from the book to the exposed skin on her neck. When she turned to look at him, he hurriedly looked at her eyes and took the book. "Thanks." He forced a smile.

"You're welcome." Fiddling with her pencil, she finally leaned over to him. "Look, about yesterday, I'm sorry for-"

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. I'm just sorry how last night ended. I mean, Gretchen was joking, you know?" He ducked his head to meet her eyes and make sure believed him.

Joey nodded unsurely. "Of course, I know, I mean, but it's okay if she doesn't like me."

"She doesn't even know you." Pacey said reassuringly.

"But the night when I got you drunk, she was-"

"Joey, you didn't get me drunk." He moved closer to her and sighed, staring directly into her eyes. "I did that myself."

"She still doesn't like me." She smiled with a small shrug. "But I don't mind."

Before he could say anything else, CJ came and knelt down next to Joey, throwing his arm around the back of her chair. "Jo, what the hell are you doing?"

She looked at him puzzled, then briefly glanced at her work. "Bettering my education?" Her voice was wry."Something you should try."

He shook his head. "No, I mean with Audrey. Why are you telling her all this shit about me?" He hissed.

"Because it's true." She hissed back.

He stood up staring down at her heatedly. "Can we go talk about this in private?"

Jen glared at him. "I guess Audrey didn't give it up so you're mad now."

"What the hell is it with you chicks?" CJ asked looking down at Joey. "When I was with you, I had other chicks throwing their panties at me everywhere I turned."

"And what? Just because they were whores that meant I had to be, too?" Joey asked incredulously.

"No, but I really cared about you because I didn't give them the time of day." He knelt back down beside her.

"Oh, so because you gave me the time of day, I should have given you the time of night?" She looked at him with fake understanding.

"That's not what I'm saying." He hissed angrily. "I'm just saying that you should have been thankful that I cared so much."

"Oh. I understand. So what you're saying is that I should have dropped my panties for you to show how thankful I really was?" She asked flatly.

"No, that's not what I'm saying either." He said tiredly.

"Then what are you saying, CJ? Because you're confusing me."

He sighed in frustration. "Why do you act like sex is such a big deal?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Why do _you_ act like it's such a big deal?" She shook her head at him before he tried to disagree. "If it wasn't a big deal to you, then you wouldn't be here yelling at me because I talked Audrey out of making a mistake." She stood up and looked dead in his eyes. Clearing her throat, she put on her best CJ voice. "'Joey, I love you, we should move to the next step', 'Joey baby, you're the only for me, let me prove it'." She shook her head. "I wasn't stupid CJ. I knew you were pressuring me."

"And you almost gave in too, didn't you?" He smirked knowingly.

She narrowed her eyes. "Almost. But then nausea kicked in and told me that I was about to do the most disgusting thing possible."

He wiggled his brows. "Anytime you want to continue what we started, you just let me know." He winked at her and turned away and left.

Joey sat down and stared blankly at her computer screen.

"Jo, what did he mean by almost? What happened?" Jen asked curiously.

Pacey frowned. "Capeside High is a lot more eventful than I was led to believe."

Joey looked at Jen. "He means, I…" She shook her head and began packing her stuff. "You know what, I'm going home. Um, I'll call you later Jen." She stood up and threw her back pack over her shoulder, then bent down to take her disk from the computer. "Bye Pacey." She muttered.

Pacey looked at Jen confusedly before the both of them got up and followed after her. "Hey, Joey, wait up." Pacey grabbed her arm to stop her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just feel sick." She looked up at him.

He sighed. "Look, I don't know all the details of what just went on back there, but if it's bothering you, you can…I mean, if you want, you can uh, talk to me."

Jen looked up at Pacey amusedly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"There's really nothing to talk about." Joey shrugged. "He just pissed me off and now I just want to go home and die."

"It can't be that bad." He assured, stepping in front of her and still holding her arm.

Jen pointed back to the library with that amused smile still plastered on her face. "I'm going to go back in. Joey, I'll call you later."

"Call me at Drue's, I'm not staying at home anymore."

Jen frowned, her amusement fading. "Why? Jo, what happened?"

"I'll tell you later." She waved her friend off and then looked up at Pacey. "And you should be going to finish your paper too."

He stared at her for a moment. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

She nodded too quickly. "I'll be fine. Just go."

He stared at her a moment longer before letting go of her arm. "Alright, um, I'll see you later then."

"Okay." She nodded. As she watched him walk away, she pushed her hands in her pant pockets. "Pacey?"

He turned around to look at her. "Yeah?"

She squinted her eyes. "Are we friends?"

He put his finger to his smiling lips. "Shh. Yes, we are. But don't let that get around."

She laughed and shook her head before turning around and walking way.

**PJPJPJ**

"Charlie, you can't do that."

"Uh, yes, I can do that."

"Drue, can he do that?"

Drue looked at Charlie. "Charles, you can't do that."

"I so can do that." Charlie argued.

"No, you can't do that." Jack added. "It's in the rules."

"Rules? Rules? What are rules, really?" Charlie asked. "The only rules that matter are the rules of life."

"Shut up, Charlie. You're still in jail." Joey slapped him in the back of the head and leaned over to grab Charlie's piece and put him in jail.

"I hate playing with you." Charlie glared at Joey.

She chuckled. "Why, because I always call you out when you're cheating?"

He nodded. "Exactly."

Jen opened the door to Drue's room humming a happy tune. "Oh Joey." She waved a folded up piece of paper in her hand. "This is for you from a certain brown haired boy with blue eyes that's not Drue."

Joey wrinkled her eyebrows. "Pacey?"

Jen nodded with a big smirk. "Uh huh. And I even took the liberty of not reading it." She handed it to Joey. Jen grinned as she looked at Joey. "You two make such a cute couple."

"Couple?" Drue frowned.

"You're dating him?" Jack asked confusedly.

"No."

"He just likes her." Jen added, grinning.

"He does not." Joey rolled her eyes as she opened the letter. She looked down at the words.

_Would you look at this? You and me getting along._

_Well, remember I told you that you could talk to me?_

_Well, I meant it, you've helped me, so I want to help you._

_If you need anything, even more pizza (I know you took it)_

_just call me. We could hang out and look at more Jackie Chan_

_movies. I guess that's what friends do._

_My # 555-3974 Call anytime. (Accept really late because Gretchen_

_may get mad and we'll both be sleeping and well, you get it)_

_P.J.W._

Joey smiled softly at the note.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Well, what does it say?"

She looked up at her friends and forced a brighter smile. "It says uh, that we shouldn't steal pizza from strangers." She looked pointedly at Charlie.

He chuckled. "Does it really say that?"

She nodded and folded the letter back up. "Yep, it really says that."

Jen looked at her suspiciously. "I knew I should have read it when I had the chance."

Joey laughed and put the letter in her pocket. "Curiosity killed the cat, Jenny."

"And Jenny's going to kill you." She smirked, adding her piece to the Monopoly board. "Has anyone seen Audrey?"

Everyone shook their heads. "I haven't seen her at all today." Jack answered.

"We can check on her in about ten minutes." Drue looked down at his watch. "My mom will be back with the truck."

Everyone agreed and began playing their game of Monopoly.

**PJPJPJ**

Pacey sat on his couch with the full bottle of Jack Daniel's in his hand when the phone rang. He leaned over and grabbed the phone from the coffee table and answered on the fifth ring. "H'lo?"

"Pacey man, what's up?" Dawson's voice blared.

"Hey D-Man, what's up with you?" He answered before sipping from the bottle.

"Nothing, man." He was quiet for a moment. "Are you drinking?"

"What else would I be doing?" Pacey shrugged as if Dawson could see him.

Dawson chuckled forcedly. "I thought you'd be dazzling the ladies with your drunken wit."

"I haven't gotten around to that just yet. But I will be driving back up to Boston tomorrow." Pacey brought the bottle to his lips.

"What? You're coming back to the big B, huh?" Dawson chuckled. "You coming with sexy Gretchen or what?"

Pacey let out a refreshing sound from sipping the JD. "Nope. I'm bringing these other people. I'm friends with one of them, but the rest are her friends."

"Her?" Dawson smiled. "Is she hot?"

"Uh…" Pacey rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. She is. But hey D, she's off limits."

"Oh, you're fucking her?"

"No, I'm not fucking her, I just…she's not that kind of girl." Pacey tried to reason with his friend.

"So you're not fucking her and she's off limits? Is she lesbian?" Dawson laughed. "I've been known to have my share of those."

"No, she's not lesbian, she's just…she's not the type that you and I go for, alright?" He sighed. "Just don't try anything with her."

"Okay, alright, she's off limits." He relented. "But if she's too hot, I'm going for it." He added jokingly.

Pacey laughed bitterly. "And I'll fuck you up." He added, non jokingly. But maybe it was just the liquor that made him sound non jokingly.

"Audrey, open the door." Her mother called from the other side of the door. "Joey and Jack are here."

Seconds later, the door opened and a disheveled Audrey appeared on the other side. "Hey." She said groggily.

"Hey." Jack smiled at her.

Joey scratched her scalp. "Can we come in, Audrey?"

Audrey waited until her mother walked away. "Yeah, come in." Jack and Joey walked in slowly and quietly. "So where is the rest of the gang?" Her voice was somewhat flat.

"They're on their way. Drue, Jen and Charlie were doing something for Drue's mom and told us to go ahead without them." Joey sat on her bed. "Audrey, are you still mad at me?"

Audrey stood still for a moment before reluctantly sighing. "Joey, I'm not mad at you." She turned to her friend. "I'm mad at myself. I almost fell for his lies." She sat next to her friend. "If you wouldn't have told me those things, I would have made a big mistake."

Joey smiled. "Thank you for not doing it, Audrey. I know you're anxious to see what the big fuss is about, I am too. But I don't want you to experience it with the wrong person."

Audrey grinned happily. "I owe you big time, Jo. You always save me. You do this for me all the time." She tapped her friends nose with her finger. "And now that I dumped that asshole, I'm single again and I can party again like a single woman does." She practically jumped on Joey, wrapping her in a hug. "I love you, bunny."

Joey giggled and hugged her friend back. "I love you too, Audrey."

Jack faked a sniffle. "Aw." He wiped at imaginary tears. "It's just so refreshing to see friends make up."

Joey giggled. "Shut up doofus." She looked over at Audrey and raised her brows. "Now get packed. We leave to do this so-called partying in the morning.

Audrey squealed. "We are going to have so much fun. I'll make sure of it."


	6. Chapter 6: Boston Vacationers

**Sorry the update took so long, but my friend's daughter spilled soda all over my DSL box and I just got a new one like a few days ago thanks to the slow crappy cable people. But here we are.**

**Also, keep in mind that there is a sequel I've been working on so if there's a lack of PDA between P and J, it's only the build up. I know people want me to hurry up with the PJ lovin so that's why I'm saying this. Thanks for the great reviews! Love ya!**

**Chapter 6**

**Boston Vacationers**

Joey knocked on the glass door. "Pacey?" She called. Biting her lip, she opened the door, remembering how he said they never locked it. "Pacey?" She instantly spotted him passed out on the couch, an empty bottle of Jack Daniel's on the floor next to where he slept. She sighed sadly and walked over to him, the hot smell of liquor smothered her. "Pacey. Get up." She shook his body.

Pacey stirred and then moaned, raising up to open his sleepy eyes. "What the hell?" He squinted his eyes at Joey. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I called at least five times and you didn't answer the phone."

"So you came over?" He asked confused. "I don't answer the phone purposely, that way callers get the impression that I'm not here."

"But I thought that you either weren't here or you were…" She looked away from him and bit her lip.

"Passed out from drinking too much?" He suggested, sitting up and rubbing his aching temples.

She nodded sadly. "But I called because well, we're ready to go."

"What are you talking about?" He asked standing up and walking away from the couch.

"The Boston trip. We're all packed and ready to go." She pushed her hair behind her ear as she followed him up the stairs. "We're just waiting for you."

"You know Boston is less than an hour away from here?" He pushed open the door to his bathroom.

"We know. We just, we want to hurry up because we're from Capeside and we're always over prepared for everything due to our lack of elsewhere existence." She smiled softly at the confused glance he was giving her. "And we ramble too much." She muttered.

He turned to look at himself in the mirror. "Give me five minutes and I'll be packed, showered and ready to go." He ran water over his toothbrush from the faucet sink.

"Why did I know you were a slob when I met you?" She asked dryly.

"Because it fits my jerky criteria." He smiled back in the same manner. "So scram so I can be done."

"Fine. But they're all in the car so they're coming in." She marched back down the stairs.

"Tell 'em to make themselves comfortable." He called, rubbing at his five o'clock shadow and wondering if he should shave.

**PJPJPJ**

"So where are we going to be staying when we get to Boston?" Audrey asked snottily to Pacey.

"At my best friend's house. He has enough room for everybody in this car and the rest of Capeside." Pacey answered, ignoring her snotty attitude.

"So we're staying with strangers?" She asked, openly showing her disgust.

"One stranger. Dawson's parents travel an awful lot so they're not really going to be there." Pacey answered easily.

"And how do we know that this Dawson person isn't a psycho?" She snorted. "For that matter, how do we know that you aren't?"

"Audrey, cut it out." Charlie ordered. "He's a good guy, alright." He looked at her warningly before looking at Pacey and chuckling softly. "She doesn't really like new people."

"No, I don't really like you." Audrey said to Pacey, correcting Charlie's sentence.

"Audrey." Joey finally spoke up. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Do you even know this guy?" She asked. "You've only known him for barely a week and you're already inviting him with us on trips."

"What is your problem with him?" Joey narrowed her eyes. "If you would shut your mouth for one minute and let the guy say something, you'd find out that he's a very acceptable guy. More than acceptable in my opinion."

Audrey laughed derisively. "Jo, just because you're crushing on him doesn't mean that I have to like him."

Joey's mouth fell wide open. "Audrey, I'm so not crushing on him. He's my friend and that's the end. _Friend_. What the hell is up with you?"

"No, what's up with _you_? First you're telling me how much you hate the guy and now you're inviting him with us on weekend trips?" She shook her head. "I mean, if you are going to crush on someone, make sure he isn't an alcoholic."

The car was stilled with stunned quietness until Pacey chuckled humorlessly. "And on that note, I think you can let me out right here Buddy. That was my cue."

Joey shook her head at Pacey. "Pace, she's just being an ass right now. She doesn't mean it."

Audrey laughed. "Oh, I mean it."

Joey squinted her eyes at Audrey. "Maybe we should drop Audrey off on the sidewalk and let her walk back to Capeside."

"That would be better. We wouldn't want a drunk roaming the streets, would we? No telling what'd he'd get himself into." She smiled evilly and glanced at Pacey.

"Audrey, cut it out." Jen spoke up. "You're being a total bitch."

"Joey's being a bitch." She argued back. "Do we even know this guy?"

"I know him, okay??" Joey screeched. "He _is_ a nice guy! If he wasn't, he would have _been_ had put you in your place! But instead of insulting you back, he's sitting there and pretending like he doesn't notice it! So just shut the hell up!"

Jack hesitantly cleared his throat. "She does have a point Audrey. Just shut up." Jack added softly.

Audrey crossed her arms over her chest and clenched her jaw, sitting quietly between Jack and Charlie. Drue drove and Joey sat in the front seat with him, Jen and Pacey sat in the back seats behind Jack, Audrey and Charlie.

"So Pacey," Jack started up conversation, turning around to face Pacey, "why did you move away from Boston anyway?"

Pacey briefly met Joey's eyes in the rearview mirror before clearing his throat and looking at Jack. "I just guessed it was time for a change." He shrugged

"And you sure did get a change, didn't you?" Drue asked playfully. "Capeside is such a boring place."

Pacey laughed. "Yeah, it's boring, but I guess it has it's perks." He met her eyes again in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, it does. One of them being our drama filled high school. You should see the drama that goes on there." Jen laughed. "The guys are assholes. That's why I've decided to stop dating until I'm eighteen."

Joey laughed from the front seat. "Yeah right. If the right guy comes along, you won't be able to help it, it'll just hit you and you won't be able to hold yourself away from him."

"Are you speaking from experience, Joey?" Jen hummed with an amused smile.

"No." Joey met her hazel eyes in the rearview before turning around face her. "I'm speaking from temporary experience. I mean, when CJ and I first got together, it was like that. I wanted to be around him all the time but then, it faded." She shrugged.

"Well just throw the time you and my ex-boyfriend shared in my face." Audrey spat sarcastically.

Charlie sighed. "Audrey. Please shut up. You're driving us insane. Joey talks about CJ all the time." He looked over at her. "You and her talk about him together all the time."

"But I just broke up with him." Audrey defended.

"We can talk about what a jerk he is." Joey suggested smiling crookedly.

"Or you could shut up." Audrey added dryly.

"Audrey, I think you're taking this too far. I'd be happy to turn around and take you home." Drue suggested, turning briefly to meet her eyes. "You want me to take you home?"

"Drue," Joey interfered, "it's alright. I guess we can just drive silently." She suggested looking up at him.

"Do you want to drive silently?" He asked carefully. "You shouldn't have to limit your fun because of _el bad attitude _back there." He moved his head lightly, motioning to Audrey.

"I'm okay." She shook her head.

"You sure?" He grinned lightly.

"I'm sure."

"You really sure?" His grin widened.

"I'm really sure."

"You really, _really_ sure?"

She giggled. "I'm really, _really _sure."

"And I'm really, _really_ sick." Charlie spoke, smiling dryly at his friend's blue eyes in the rearview mirror.

"I second that." Jen added with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. "Those two are so crazy."

"Drue and Joey?" Pacey asked curiously.

"Yeah. I can't for the life of me figure out why those two aren't dating." She chuckled. "They make a perfect couple. They know everything about each other. And I mean, they know _everything _about each other. I bet you he could tell her when and where she bought the outfit she's wearing."

Pacey watched as Joey and Drue sat in the front seat laughing and talking. "So out of all the best friends in this group, they're the _best_ , best friends?"

Jen nodded. "Yeah. They've been friends for the longest, they click the best, too. Sometimes, he can literally look at her and tell what's wrong. It's really hard to find a friendship like theirs, but luckily, I found one."

"With who?" Pacey asked, truly interested.

She smiled. "Jack." She rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly like hers, but hey, I'd settle for Jack over Drue any day." She smiled.

Pacey nodded and smiled, letting his eyes roam to Drue and Joey. "That's nice."

**PJPJPJ**

"Turn up this street and you'll see a big yellow house. That's Dawson's." Pacey's excitement spilled through his tone.

"How long have you and Dawson been friends?" Jack asked interestedly.

"For a long time." He smiled, undoing his seatbelt before they even came to a full stop.

When Drue cut off the engine, everyone hopped out, squinting their eyes from the sun. "Wow." Joey exclaimed. "Is this guy the son of millionaires or something." The sound of music thumping could be heard.

Pacey shook his head as he came to stand next to her. "Something like that. His parents both have jobs that keep them away from home, so of course they make a lot." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking to the door. "Dawson!" He called loudly.

When they all made it to the door, Pacey opened it but before they fully stepped in a blonde boy with a silk blue robe on and a fat cigar in his mouth appeared. "Pacey?" He furrowed his brows but the grin on his lips couldn't be controlled.

Pacey laughed at his friends appearance but pulled him in a manly hug. "D-man, I've missed you and it's only been a week and a half."

"Wow. I didn't know you'd be here this soon." Dawson pulled away and looked at the people behind him. "And look. You brought the Brady Bunch kids with you too." He stuck his hand out to Drue. "I'm Dawson."

"I'm Drue." He said uneasily.

Pacey wrapped his arm around his blonde friend's shoulders. "And this is Joey. That's Audrey, Jen, Jack and Charlie." He pointed out the rest of the people.

Dawson removed the cigar from his mouth. "Well, lets get out of this sun and go inside." He and Pacey moved inside, chatting and laughing.

Charlie squinted his eyes suspiciously as they walked in. "I don't know. This guy doesn't seem too cool." When they walked in, the first thing they spotted were three girls in bikinis walking to the backyard where a pool could be seen. "He's my new best friend." Charlie chimed with a wide smile. "Dawson," he began catching up with the two old friends, "where have you

been all my life?"

Audrey snorted. "Great, they have naked women. What about the men?"

Jen noticed a brawny man walking towards the pool with two blondes. "Audrey, I think you spoke to soon." She licked her lips and fluffed her hair. "I'm going out back." Jen grabbed Joey's hand. "Let's follow that man."

Joey rolled her eyes. "He's with two girls, Jen."

"So." The thumping music got louder as they moved across the tile floor and came to the backyard.

"What happened to waiting until you were eighteen to date?" Joey followed unenthusiastically behind Jen.

"Who said I wanted to date that guy? I just want to gawk, stare, and maybe flirt a little." She grinned. "Maybe introduce his lips to my lips. Practice a little mouth to mouth." She wiggled her brows.

"I knew you were a man in a beautiful woman's body." Joey looked behind her and saw that Audrey was following. "Aud, this may be your chance to get over CJ." When she turned back around, hundred's of people were dancing around, teens were splashing around in the pool. Her mouth opened in shock. "So this is where they hold those spring break things that I see on MTV."

Audrey gasped. "This place is huge."

"I thought this only happened in Beverly Hills?" Jen gawked in surprised. "Did we drive to California by accident?"

"Hey ladies." A human Ken doll said from inside the pool. "Hop on in."

"I don't think so." Joey declined.

He looked up at Audrey and Jen. "What about you two?"

Audrey shook her head. "We didn't bring swimsuits."

He shrugged and pushed his wet blonde hair out of his face. "I'm sure you have a bra and panties on under there."

Jen shrugged and looked over at Joey and Audrey. "Come on guys. Let's hop in." She noticed their indecisive faces."Remember when we used to look at Beverly Hills 90210 and we used to wish and pray that we'd be given the chance to party like they did?"

"Jen," Joey started, "we only did that because we knew it'd never happen."

"At first." Jen argued. "But then, we prayed and wished so much that we just wished that we'd be able to do it." When she seen that she wasn't getting through to them she sighed. "Look. Audrey's going through break up problems and you're going through family problems that you promised to tell me about but never did." She put her hand on her hip. "Now I'm sure we could go in that big ass living room and the three of us could talk about our problems."

Audrey sighed and looked at Joey. "I really don't have any desire to talk about CJ." She began kicking off her shoes.

Joey looked at Jen and finally sighed reluctantly. "Oh alright. I'll get in, but who's to say what kind of disgusting chemicals are floating around in that water. Chlorine doesn't disinfect everything, you know." She kicked off her flip flops.

Jen squealed and unclasped her shorts. "I love you guys."

"And I hate you." Joey murmured, uneasily removing her shorts.

**PJPJPJ**

"Wow." Dawson smiled, looking on as Joey, Jen and Audrey removed their clothing. "Where in the hell did you find these girls?"

Pacey shrugged and sipped from his plastic cup. "Capeside." He murmured, not being able to take his eyes off of the brunette in the middle of the two blondes.

"Which one is the one that I can't put the moves on?" Dawson asked almost sarcastically.

"The one in the middle." Pacey answered easily.

"And you don't have a thing for her or anything?" Dawson asked skeptically.

Pacey shook his head. "Nope."

"So why would it bother you if I did pursue her?"

"Because you'd be corrupting her." Pacey said, his voice hinting defensiveness.

"How would I be corrupting her if I only did with her what she let me do?" Dawson grinned.

"Are you trying to let me know that you're going to pursue her anyway?" Pacey asked, obviously fed up.

"Hey," he held up his hands, "I'm just saying. You wouldn't be telling me that she's off limits unless you wanted her for yourself."

"I don't want her for myself." He spat almost angrily. "You know what, if you want to, go pursue her. I don't care."

"Are you sure?" Dawson smirked. "Because I'm going."

"Go." Pacey shrugged. "Just watch out for her boyfriend. He's the tall guy with blue eyes. Drue."

Dawson narrowed his eyes. "On second thought, I'll just go after one of the blondes."

Pacey smiled dryly. "You do that." When Dawson walked away Pacey sipped more of his drink, his eyes trained on the pool and the brunette who was talking to some blonde guy with hazel eyes.

Joey felt his eyes on her and looked towards the door, catching him staring. When she noticed the drink in his hand, she turned to Brad. "I'll be right back." Brad nodded to her and she walked to the edge of the pool and hopped out, her purple underwear soaked, her hair dripping.

With a soft smile, she walked in front of him then stopped. "Hey."

He smiled back. "Hey. I see you're having fun."

"Yeah, a little." She looked down at his drink and then softly nibbled on her bottom lip. "Can I drink some?"

He looked at her oddly. "You don't drink, do you?"

"I've drank a Miller Light or two in my time." She grinned.

He chuckled. "This isn't Miller Light."

"Let me drink it. I'm sure I could handle it." She held out her hand.

He knew what she was trying to do. "Fine. Here." He gave it to her. She looked down at the cup and hesitantly brought it to her lips, throwing her head back and swallowing it too quickly. "Wait, Joey." He tried to warn her, but she had already spit it out all over him.

She dropped the cup and covered her mouth, noticing what she had done. "Oh my god, Pace, I'm so sorry." She took her hands and started wiping the wetness off of his face which only made more wetness because her hands were wet from the pool water. "Pacey, oh my god, I'm sorry."

He opened his eyes, despite the liquor that dripped from his lashes. "It's, uh, it's alright Joey."

"Are you sure? Because I could go get you some napkins."

"I can go get them." He chortled. "You should probably go back in the water and play with that perfect guy whose name is most likely Chad." He was sarcastic.

She followed after him. "His name is Brad."

"I was close enough." He shrugged.

"He says he remembers you." Joey followed after him still, the coldness becoming aware to her.

"Who doesn't remember me?" He said walking into the kitchen. "I was a legend at Boston Bay High."

She squinted her eyes. "And you left all of that behind?"

He grabbed a towel off of the counter. "Being popular is highly overrated." He wiped his face off. "Whoever I dated was out before we even made it official. Whatever I got in trouble for was a must-know before I was even handed a punishment. Teachers even let me slide with wrong doings sometimes."

"And I repeat, you left that all behind?" Joey asked confusedly.

He nodded. "Yeah. It made me feel abnormal. Like I wasn't like the rest of the students."

"Are you sure it's the popularity that makes you feel that way?" She asked softly, hugging her arms.

Pacey looked up at her surprised that she even looked that far into it. "What do you mean?"

"You tell me." When he didn't answer, she sighed and looked down at herself. "Why don't you come join me in the pool?"

"Nah, you go ahead without me."

"Please?" She gave him puppy dog eyes.

He laughed. "What are you doing? Those don't work on me." When she didn't stop he shook his head. "Jo, I don't fall for puppy dog eyes. I'm not that kind of guy." She still didn't stop. "It's not going to work." He chuckled. Then after a second, "Jo, I'll join you later okay." She was still doing it. "I'll get in the pool later." He sighed heavily. "Alright, I'm only staying in for five minutes." She smiled and grabbed his hand. "Five minutes, and that's it." He called as she dragged him towards the pool.


End file.
